Freshman House GOP members will send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Wednesday ratcheting up the pressure to pass a continuing resolution for the remainder of the fiscal year that “makes reasonable, responsible spending cuts”— and promise to protest daily until he does.
“Mr. Reid, your record on spending in the Senate is one of failure,” says the letter, written by Arkansas Rep. Rick Crawford, a former radio broadcaster. “You have failed to pass a budget, failed to restrain spending, and failed to put our country on sound fiscal footing. We do not accept your failure as our own. The American people did not send us here to fail.
The letter has been signed by 30 members of the freshman class so far.
“Mr. Reid, we are letting you know that we will rally on the Senate steps every day until you pass a long-term Continuing Resolution. We call on all Americans to join our fight in restoring our country’s fiscal health,” the freshmen write in the letter, which they plan to release at a press conference near the Capitol steps Wednesday morning.
In trying to flip the conventional narrative of government shutdown politics, the freshmen are engaging in their first publicly organized effort to use the strength of their numbers as a class.
Besides Crawford, among the freshmen lawmakers to sign the letter are Diane Black (TN-06), Francisco “Quico” Canseco (TX-23), Scott DesJarlais (TN-04), Vicky Hartzler (MO-4), Mike Pompeo (KS-04), Jim Renacci (OH-16), Michael Grimm (NY-13), Frank Guinta (NH-1), Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-3), Billy Long (MO-7), Tim Scott (SC-01) and Stephen Fincher (TN-08).
A full text of the letter follows, complete with a telling sign-off: “Bound together and determined.”
Mr. Reid,
We the undersigned call on you and the Senate to pass a long-term Continuing Resolution; a resolution that hears the calls of the American people and makes reasonable, responsible spending cuts.
Mr. Reid, your record on spending in the Senate is one of failure. You have failed to pass a budget, failed to restrain spending, and failed to put our country on sound fiscal footing.
We do not accept your failure as our own.
The American people did not send us here to fail. Make no mistake: any government shutdown is the result of your lack of leadership. America has a $14 trillion debt and you offered a mere $6 billion in cuts. The House heard the calls of the American people and offered $61 billion in cuts, but the Senate has not sent us a Continuing Resolution in return.
We have received nothing from the Senate except denials of the dire straits of our nation’s fiscal health.
The House of Representatives is accomplishing what we were elected to do. We’ve cut spending. We’ve terminated wasteful programs. We’ve funded the government.
Mr. Reid, we are letting you know that we will rally on the Senate steps every day until you pass a long-term Continuing Resolution. We call on all Americans to join our fight in restoring our country’s fiscal health.
The House of Representatives is doing our job, Mr. Reid. The Senate needs to start doing theirs.
Mr. Reid, it’s time to pass a bill.
Bound together and determined,
[Signatures]
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52193.html#ixzz1I7n2FJgC
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