The Kansas chapter of the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity today urged Kansans to sign an online petition to oppose the trillion-dollar stimulus package put forth by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Obama Administration.

“This so-called stimulus package would not only be harmful to the long-term economic health of the country,” said AFP-Kansas state director Derrick Sontag. “but it could also become a dangerous temptation for Kansas lawmakers by allowing them to avoid making some of the budget reductions necessary to truly balance our state’s budget.”

Kansas faces a shortfall of at least $180 million for the fiscal year that ends on June 30th, and that budget gap will grow to over $1 billion for FY2010. Sontag said state legislators and elected officials must address our fiscal situation by making tough decisions on where to trim the budget, and by eliminating wasteful government spending.

Sontag urged Kansans to visit www.nostimulus.com and sign AFP’s national “No Stimulus” petition, which tells President Obama that expanding government and growing debt are not productive reactions to the nation’s economic troubles. By visiting the website, online activists can also learn facts about the Congressional spending proposal, contact their legislators, and write to local media. More than 2,000 citizens have already signed since the petition’s launch last week.

“We have experimented with large-scale expansions of government in the past, and each one coincided with economic failure,” said AFP president Tim Phillips. “We cannot simply tax, borrow and spend our way to prosperity.”