FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Sept. 21, 2005

WASHINGTON – Americans for Prosperity Executive Vice President Michelle Korsmo released the following statement in support of finding spending offsets to help pay the federal cost of hurricane relief:

“Hurricane Katrina was a national disaster of the highest magnitude and the victims of this catastrophe need our help. But Washington will only create another national disaster and produce even more victims down the road if it passes the massive cost of hurricane relief to the next generation.

“Every family in America, when faced with a large, unexpected expense – a new transmission for the car, a broken refrigerator – has to tighten its belt and spend less on other things. They can’t just put it on a credit card bearing the names of their children and grandchildren and force future generations to pay the original tab plus interest. They can’t just demand a raise from the boss. They have to limit their spending, and that’s exactly what Congress and the President should do to pay for hurricane relief.

“Some say that there’s simply no fat left to cut in the federal budget, but the grassroots members of Americans for Prosperity know better than that. They know that federal spending has skyrocketed by a third since 2001. They know that Congress just passed a bloated $284 billion highway bill that included more than 6,000 pork projects like the infamous ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ in Alaska. And they know that it’s time for fiscal conservatives in Washington to finally start acting like the taxpayer advocates they claim to be.

“The grassroots members of Americans for Prosperity salute Representatives Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Flake and the other members of the House Republican Study Committee, who have shown true leadership as they’ve brought ‘Operation Offset’ into the national conversation.”

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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