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Huckabee Campaign Press Release - Mike Huckabee Charges Speaker Pelosi with Sending "Lump of Coal to Troops in Iraq"

December 18, 2007

LITTLE ROCK, AR – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat leadership failed to support American troops fighting the Global War on Terrorism yesterday by passing a $515 billion omnibus spending bill that included funding for all Cabinet agencies, except the Department of Defense, and specifically did not include funding for the Iraq war. The bill, passed in a hurry so Congress can go home for Christmas, allows spending to support our troops in Afghanistan, but not in Iraq.

"Last night, Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats passed a spending bill that concealed a lump of coal for our troops serving overseas in Iraq," former Arkansas Governor and Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said. "Democrats are signaling that they are unhappy with the fact that our surge in Iraq is working. Violence is down. Order is being restored. And terrorists are learning they are not welcomed by the people of Iraq."

The Senate is expected to add funding for the troops in Iraq in debate today. "But why is the House leadership playing politics with funding for the war?" asked Huckabee.

Additionally, the spending bill, written by Democrats and passed 253-154 with mostly Democrat votes, undermines the 2006 Secure Fence Act. That act specifically required a two-tier barrier, like the one that has worked in California; the new version downgrades the provision to require only a single-tier barrier. The Pelosi spending bill also eliminated the list of locations where the fence would be built.

"This serious reduction in security along our southern border was buried in a massive, 3,500-page bill. Nancy Pelosi hoped it would go unnoticed by the American people. Republican are serious about making our borders secure," Huckabee said. "This effort to sneak one by the people is just another move in a continuing pattern Democrats have established to prevent resolving our illegal immigration crisis."

Mike Huckabee, Huckabee Campaign Press Release - Mike Huckabee Charges Speaker Pelosi with Sending "Lump of Coal to Troops in Iraq" Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/293016

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