The fight to stop this trillion dollar stimulus scheme is not over!
Two big events occurred yesterday afternoon in the Pelosi-Reid-Obama big-governmen/big-spending bill battle.
First, at 4:00 P.M. our band of Americans for Prosperity staffers, interns and volunteers delivered your 69,487 petitions to the Senate. There to thank you were four of the true free market champions in the Senate – Sen. Jim DeMint (SC -- our leader), Sen. Jeff Sessions (AL), Sen. David Vitter (LA), Sen. James Inhofe (OK) and Sen. Mike Enzi (WY).
Our event led the 6:00 P.M. national FOX News show! Cameras were also therefrom CNN and CBS Evening News. To theright is an image from FOX News, your petitions looked great and the senators and media were stunned. Also, make sure to check out picture of the event on the AFP Flickr page and the full press conference is up on the AFP YouTube page.
All four senators said their phones are ringing off the hooks at the capitol with callers running heavily against the spending bill and your petitions were an even more clear indication of our momentum.
If you wonder whether or not you're making a difference, just check this quote out from Roll Call (Capitol Hill's insider newspaper) “Everyone is really unhappy on the messaging,” one senior Democratic aide said. “Members are apparently getting beaten up badly on the package at home."
Then, last night during a procedural move the Senate announced that the key vote on the Pelosi-Reid-Obama bill will be this Monday at 5:30 P.M. Simply put, we need 40 Senators voting NO at that point to stop the bill (normally would be 41 but due to the recount the Minnesota seat is vacant so it in effect counts as NO).
This means we have two more days to intensify the pressure on the Senate. Phil Kerpen from our AFP staff personally delivered just over 2,400 petitions to Senator Specter (PA) one of the key undecided Republicans and he told me the office staff was harried and tired from all the "attention" they're getting.
You've probably heard big government supporters talk about how the Pelosi-Reid-Obama trillion dollar giveaway is genuine "stimulus" and not just another wasteful, pork-filled, pet program spending outrage. Well, even President Obama had a moment of candor last evening when describing this bill to the House Democrat caucus.
Here's what the President said, "[T]here's the argument, well, this is full of pet projects. When was the last time that we saw a bill of this magnitude move out with no earmarks in it? Not one," he said to applause. "So then you get the argument, well, this is not a stimulus bill--this is a spending bill. What do you think stimulus is?"
You have to hand it to President Obama -- talk about audacity. Of course, he was not talking to the American people but instead to a couple of hundred hardened big government politicians at a private retreat. I bet his message to the broad public will be a lot different!!
Thank you for signing the NoStimulus.com petition to Congress. Thank you for taking action to protect our freedoms and our nation. But, now is the time to do more.
Requests before the Monday vote:
By Monday's vote, our goal is 100,000 petition signatures at NoStimulus.com so we must add another 20,000 signatures.
Nearly 14,000 of you have forwarded the NoStimulus.com site to your friends and family and it's made a huge difference. But, many of you have yet made this important step. It’s you guys that are going to make this a success. Please take a moment to forward this email or go to NoStimulus.com and send the site to your friends. And, please CC me when you do it -- it's a great encouragement to our team when we get these emails from you to your friends!
As we monitor the site we find that literally thousands of people are going on the site to view the petition counter -- the media, congressional offices, pollsters and political operatives -- it's the surest, quickest way to see if we're maintaining momentum and energy on our side.
Also, first thing Monday morning I urge you to call your Senate office one more time -- even if you've called already. The switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Or, go on line and get the number for your senator's local office in your home state. Heck -- DO BOTH. Tell them about the Obama quote or go to NoStimulus.com for new talking points. These calls matter so much.
Please forgive me for this long email update but I have to share one last thing with you. It's an email from Sherri in Cary, NC that sums up the energy so many of you are displaying while making a great point at the end. Take a look:
Tim, Thanks for all your work and communication. I sent emails to all 100 Senators yesterday asking them to vote against this porkulus bill - or as Obama called it last night - this "Spending Bill". I called my 2 senators offices and have told all friends I can about signing your petition. I felt less frustrated after doing all this - at least I'm doing what I can to voice my opinion about this disastrous debt-ridden liberal Christmas list.
SherriCary NC
Let's keep fighting!
Sincerely,
Tim Phillips President,
Americans for Prosperity
P.S. Watch Harry Reid describing the "compromise" and admitting the bill is approaches $1 trillion and saying they didn't get everything they wanted - "No one lost anything. Everything in here is new money."
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