Time for a Kitchen Table Conversation: Iraq War Funding Bill Costs $500 per U.S. Family

Time for a Kitchen Table Conversation: Iraq War Funding Bill Costs $500 per U.S. Family

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

Congress returns to work this week under pressure from the Administration and congressional Republicans to provide more funding for the Iraq war. One of the things Americans should consider: The bill to fund further operations in Iraq would cost a little over $500 per U.S. family, according to WashingtonWatch.com.


"American families should have a kitchen table conversation about the Iraq war," said WashingtonWatch.com webmaster Jim Harper. "It may be hard for families to assess our strategy in Iraq, but it's easy to grasp what it means for the government to spend $500 of their money. This is one of the things Americans should weigh on the Iraq issue."


WashingtonWatch.com uses government predictions about the costs or savings from proposed laws to calculate the significance to average Americans - in dollars and cents - of proposed changes to the nation's policies. H.R. 4156, the Orderly and Responsible Iraq Redeployment Appropriations Act, would spend $50 billion dollars, a little over $500 for each of the roughly 100 million families in the U.S.


http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_4156.html


This is much less money than other proposed expenditures. A spending bill that funds the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services, for example, costs about $5,400 per U.S. family, ten times the Iraq war funding bill.


http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_3043.html


WashingtonWatch.com has many tools that help inform and activate citizens. Every bill in Congress has a wiki-editable page on WashingtonWatch.com with links to more information. Each page allows comments so that people may express their opinions. Each page also allows visitors to vote "yea" or "nay" on the bills before Congress.


The WashingtonWatch.com weekly newsletter and RSS feeds from the site provide information tailored to Americans' interests in a variety of ways. They also offer


direct links to voting, allowing the site's visitors to quickly and easily make their opinions known.


"We want to make it easier for people to get informed and get involved," said Harper. "People who care about the environment, taxes, health care, or the Iraq war can now quickly express their opinions, and learn what others think. It's a small but important step toward putting people in charge of their government."


Source: WashingtonWatch.com

CONTACT: Jim Harper of WashingtonWatch.com, +1-202-486-0824


Web site: http://www.washingtonwatch.com/
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_4156.html
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/110_HR_3043.html