Crunch Time On Stimulus Bill

I know, I know. What chances do we have of stopping it? As Michelle Malkin says, “We are so screwed”. Ann Coulter says, “Goodbye America, It Was Nice While It Lasted”.

But Stop The Stimulus hasn’t stopped trying, and as long as I’m breathing, I won’t either. Tim Phillips of Americans For Prosperity writes in a mass email:

At 2PM tomorrow afternoon, your NoStimulus.com petitions (which at the moment number 395,047) will be officially presented to the United States Senate in an event at the Capitol.  Later in the day, the Senate is expected to make the final vote on the Pelosi/Reid/Obama trillion dollar spending bill.

You’re invited to join us for this presentation if you are in or near Washington.  It will be held in Upper Senate Park at 2PM tomorrow.  I’m sorry we couldn’t give you more notice, but moving the vote up to tomorrow was a surprise move by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to try to jam this disastrous bill through before folks can even read the bill.

If someone tells you this fight is over think about this for a moment. Last Friday, I stood at the Capitol with a band of AFP staff, interns and volunteers as we presented our petitions to Senator Jim DeMint — our free market leader in the Senate.  At that time, we had 69,487 petitions.

Tomorrow, we will present your more than 400,000 petitions and – if you can help us make a final push by sending the site to your friends in next couple of hours – it can be more than 500,000 petitions to the Senate telling them to vote NO on this outrageous spending bill.

Here’s the update on where the battle stands.

Senate and House negotiators are set to agree tonight on a $789 billion bill.  Here’s what we know about the deal:

• This conference report provides the least tax relief of any version yet, even cutting President Obama’s signature middle class tax cut from $500 per individual and $1000 per couple to $400 and $800.  That takes money out the pockets of regular Americans to pay for more wasteful spending.

• This conference report gives away as “tax cuts” tens-of-billions of dollars to people WHO DO NOT PAY INCOME TAXES.

• This conference report, by all accounts, still funds the stealth imposition of health care rationing via so-called “Comparative Evaluation Research,” that would let bureaucrats decides whether people are too old or too sick to receive a treatment.

• The price tag is still astonishing.  $789 billion might be less than the Senate’s $838 billion, but it’s massively more than the $300 billion this bill originally was proposed at, and still tops a trillion dollars when interest is included.  There’s still $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts, $600 million to buy cars for government workers, $88 million for ATV and bike trails and so much more waste.  And, go to stimuluswatch.org to see the wish list of earmarks for cities and counties in your area.  It will blow your mind.

With a likely Senate vote tomorrow, time is of the essence.  These are the key action items that could lead to victory tomorrow:

1.  Get at least 3 more people to sign the NoStimulus.com petition. If we have a huge final push we could reach an astonishing half-million signers — or more – before our presentation event tomorrow.

2.  Make 1 last call to your senator. Many of you have done this and we’re so thankful for your standing up.  But, we have just 24  hours to make our final push.  Call the Senate switchboard at 202-224-3121 or better yet go on-line and call your Senator’s local offices.  If you need talking points go to NoStimulus.com and we’ve got plenty.

3. Consider making a special financial contribution to Americans for Prosperity today. Help us continue to get the word out about the dangers of this no-stimulus bill to literally millions more Americans around the country.  Your support will provide resources to ramp up our “No Stimulus” advertising and outreach on websites like the Drudge Report, FoxNews.com, Townhall.com and others for the final day of this fight so we can generate thousands upon thousands of phone calls into Senate offices.  A gift of $10, $25, $50 – or any amount you could afford – would go a long way toward reaching even more people with our No Stimulus message and mobilizing them to make a difference alongside you and me to STOP the Pelosi/Reid/Obama boondoggle.

You’re making a huge difference.  Yesterday, “Americans for Prosperity” and “No Stimulus Petition” were the top two searches in the nation on Google, and your efforts to drive literally hundreds of thousands of people to our NoStimulus.com website was a featured story on the Yahoo! front page.  Additionally, today you may have seen the number of petition signers ticking upward along the bottom line of the Fox News “ticker.”  You have literally flooded Senate offices with your calls and most of Washington is now going to NoStimulus.com site to view the counter to find out how many folks have signed the petition.

I know the pundits are political prognosticators are saying it’s over and the Pelosi\Reid\Obama trillion dollar bill is a done deal.

But, don’t be discouraged.  Instead, keep fighting.  One petition signer from  Wisconsin, Carla, sent me an email that says exactly why we should keep fighting.  She wrote:

“Tim,

For a week I’ve been so frustrated over this terrible Stimulus bill.  Then in the last day I’ve called both my senators and my congressman.  I’ve signed the NoStimulus.com petition and then forwarded it to my entire email list.  For the first time in my life I even called a local talk radio show to tell people why the bill is so bad.

And you something, I feel so much better because I’m doing all I can do.”

Carla is right.  We can just be frustrated over what these politicians are trying to do to our nation and our economic freedoms.  Or, we can do “all we can do” for our nation.

Thanks and if you are in the area please join us tomorrow, 2PM, Upper Senate Park for the presentation of your petitions to the Senate!!

Sincerely,

Tim Phillips
President, Americans for Prosperity

Here, some intrepid Move America Forward activists “stormed” Senator Specter’s office to give him a piece of their minds. (He wasn’t in, but an aide, took notes).

Dick Armey (in another mass email) has some other suggestions for more citizen action:

Here is what we need to do. First everyone should take to the airwaves for the rest of the week, calling talk radio stations that reach Maine and Pennsylvania voters. Your message should be that Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins have made a big mistake by voting for Obama’s trillion dollar debt plan, and that they still have time to switch their votes before the conference report goes back to the Senate later this week. These three Republicans have told the American people that if the bill is loaded with more spending in the conference committee, that they will not support it. We need to hold them to their word, and demand that they vote against the bill. So please take a few minutes and try to alert the people of Pennsylvania and Maine by calling the major talk radio stations there to drive the point home. Try to get whatever radio show is being broadcast right now and tell the host that Dick Armey encouraged you to call and defend liberty by broadcasting your message against the debt plan to hundreds of thousands of people.

Second, if you live in Maine or Pennsylvania, you should channel your energy and anger against the trillion dollar debt plan and take to the streets in protest. Grab a few of your friends and head down to Main Street with signs, handouts and sign-up sheets to recruit those you meet to our cause. The politicians and their staff may be avoiding or screening our phone calls, but we can get our message out directly to the people by leading a public demonstration against their votes for massive debt.

Finally, if you live in a city near one of the Senate regional offices in Maine or Pennsylvania, show up with your group and demand that Senators Specter, Snowe and Collins switch their votes. You can see how we led just such a visit the other day in Washington, by watching our video on YouTube. (shown above).

Thank you for everything you are doing to prevent this nightmare of spending, debt and pork from becoming a reality. Together we can send a message loud and clear that the American people are tired of the politicians performing fiscal child abuse on our children and grandchildren.

Sincerely,

Dick Armey
Chairman
FreedomWorks.org

If this thing is passed, there will be no reason for anyone to give to a private charity,  ever again, as the government will be taking over non profit organizations.

Richard A. Viguerie (in yet another mass email):

We must make sure that every member of Congress understands: Your vote on this issue will not be forgotten.  If you support this scheme, it will come back to haunt you in the years to come.

The strength and independence of our nonprofit organizations is a big reason that our country became the greatest country in the world.  Don’t let Team Obama take it away!

LET’S FIGHT THIS THING!

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