Johnson rips 'garbage can' defense bill

December 24, 2005
By Mara Lee

U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson, who represents a swath of Southeastern Illinois , broke with most members of the Republican Party and voted against the budget cuts and defense spending bills that passed overnight in the House this week.

"I have a 30-something-year history in office of fiscal responsibility," he said in an interview.

Johnson worked in the Illinois Statehouse for decades before going to Congress. But the cuts to agricultural and student loan programs made him turn against the bill.

"Obviously the food stamp program (cuts) caused me a great deal of concern" as well, he said. Johnson said he would have voted for a clean defense appropriations bill, but he couldn't support all the unrelated measures included in this bill.

He particularly disliked protecting pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits on the safety of their vaccines; money for a third airport in Chicago ; and $2.5 billion for private school vouchers for the children of those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

"Even if you do support some of those measures, they have nothing to do with defense," he said, and legislators had almost no time to consider their merits before voting. "It just became a Christmas tree - or a garbage can," he said, as negotiators tacked on pet projects.

He said he told the Republican leadership that it was ludicrous to keep members awake all night to vote on these bills instead of doing the work over the last four months.

"All we were doing was naming post offices and having early dismissals," he said.

House members often are in Washington Tuesday through Thursday, and back in their home districts the rest of the week. How can they make rational decisions when they've been kept up all night, and have no time to consider the proposals, Johnson asked. "That's not any way to run the greatest democracy in the world," he said.

Johnson also responded to the news that President Bush had authorized spying on U.S. residents without a warrant.

Johnson said he believes in "ordered liberty," or freedom with responsibility, and anyone who also believes in this concept would naturally be concerned by this news.

"The very subject matter of surveillance on American citizens causes me consternation," he said.

Recently released FBI files show some of the Americans under surveillance for suspected terrorism were vegetarians at Indiana University who were trying to promote their lifestyle in "Vegan Community Week."