Just posted on the website of Congressman Buck McKeon (CD 25) is a press release in which the 8-term Republican lawmaker blasts Congress' Democratic majority for voting to approve a federal spending bill that increases expenditures, expands Congressional pork ("earmarks") and authorizes the spending of significantly more money than President Bush requests.

Here is Congressman McKeon's take on the spending bill in question:

Earlier tonight, Congress passed the fiscally irresponsible, controversial Labor-Health and Human Services conference report, which includes $9.8 billion more than the President’s request and includes $2.4 billion for future year appropriations bringing the grand total to $12.2 billion above the President’s limit and $10 billion more than in Fiscal Year 2007.  Rep. Howard P. “Buck” McKeon spoke out tonight about this runaway spending by Democrats.

“Members of Congress are sent to Washington, D.C. to be good stewards of our constituents’ hard-earned taxpayer money, but yet again, we see Democrats acting as though this is all just ‘play money,’ stated McKeon. “Now more than ever, we need greater transparency and accountability in how the federal government is spending money; but what we don’t need are pet projects being slid into an already massive spending bill under the radar.  Tonight’s Democrat Labor Health and Human Services bill included $9.8 billion – of real money - more than the President requested and $10 billion more than was passed last Congress.  With such unscrupulous spending, it appears Democrats have gone on some sort of spending spree at the expense of taxpayers.”

Egregious items included in the bloated conference report:

• 2,215 Earmarks: The Democrat Labor-HHS conference report includes nine earmarks that were not passed by either the House or the Senate and added an additional $155 million.
• Daschle Earmark: One of these airdropped earmarks provides $1 million in funding for the naming of a public policy center after Former Senator Tom Daschle.
• Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Cuts: $23 million were diverted from IDEA, a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation, to fund a new program for state personnel development that was not funded in the House-passed bill – funding for a new, untested program should not divert needed funds from our classrooms
• Money for Bureaucrats (Not Teachers): The average bureaucrat at the Department of Education makes $95,282—almost twice the salary of the average teacher in America—yet, under the Democrats’ bill, these bureaucrats would receive a 3.5% pay increase