“The emergency funds that provide our troops with the tools they need to succeed and return home should not be held hostage to the demands of the Democrat party’s left wing or used as oxen to pull unrelated spending across the President’s desk.”

WASHINGTON – Rep. Adam Putnam (R-FL), Chairman of the House Republican Conference, has issued the following statement:

“Democrats are once again proving themselves the party of the past. When not recycling stale legislation, they’re peddling hackneyed political attacks. It’s cynicism and opportunism at its worst, and it does a great disservice to the best among us, namely our fighting men and women in harm’s way.

“Our troops are making progress in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their valiant efforts to defend our freedom and keep us on offense against global terrorism are nothing short of heroic. The emergency funds that provide them the tools they need to succeed and return home should not be held hostage to the demands of the Democrat party’s left wing or used as oxen to pull unrelated spending across the President’s desk.

“The right thing to do is pass a clean emergency troop funding bill at once, and in the right way. Ramming through this critical legislation without so much as a single committee hearing or Republican amendment is as unprecedented as it is dangerous – especially from a majority that promised to set a higher standard for bipartisan collaboration.

“House Democrats are understandably frustrated about their inability to neutralize Republican successes, but to take it out on our troops is dead wrong. Fear itself seems to be enough for the Democrat majority to leave democracy on life support in the House of Representatives at our troops’ direct expense.”