Campbell supports spending bills veto

Newport Beach Rep. John Campbell on Wednesday backed up President Bush’s threatened veto of Democrats’ spending bills, and he had 146 Republican colleagues behind him. Campbell delivered a letter to Bush with the signatures of 147 GOP House members, who pledged to sustain any vetoes of eight spending bills that exceed the president’s budget requests.

Bush proposed a $933 billion budget for 2007-08, Campbell said, and Democrats added another $21 billion in requests. All 19 of California’s Republican representatives signed the veto letter, as did the House GOP leadership.

While Campbell said he’d like the federal spending trimmed even further, he knew the votes would be there to back Bush’s veto. “The president’s veto in conjunction with those 147 votes means we’re going to save the taxpayers $21 billion,” he said. At least one of the bills that could be vetoed may come up for a vote today.

— Alicia Robinson