Politics

Harkin: Republicans at ‘call to arms’ meeting against spending cuts, too

Jonathan Strong Jonathan Strong, 27, is a reporter for the Daily Caller covering Congress. Previously, he was a reporter for Inside EPA where he wrote about environmental regulation in great detail, and before that a staffer for Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA). Strong graduated from Wheaton College (IL) with a degree in political science in 2006. He is a huge fan of and season ticket holder to the Washington Capitals hockey team. Strong and his wife reside in Arlington.
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A spokeswoman for the senator who called a Jan. 24 meeting to mobilize hundreds of K Street lobbyists against spending cuts pushed by the GOP says Republicans were at the meeting too.

The aide said her boss couldn’t even close the doors to the meeting, held in “biggest hearing room on the Senate side of the Capitol,” because “there were so many Republicans, Democrats and independents” interested in the topic.

ABC News reported Friday Harkin arranged the meeting to mobilize K Street juice against spending cuts. The Harkin spokeswoman says the meeting was about protecting “modest-income and middle-class working America, children and communities.”

The revelation that Republicans attended the meeting to stop spending cuts proposed by the GOP comes as House Speaker John Boehner is blasting the effort as a “backroom scheme” to thwart the will of American voters.

“Washington Democrats and their special interest allies are plotting to keep the ineffective ‘stimulus’ spending spree going. They’re hatching backroom schemes to fight the will of the American people, who want us to end the Washington spending binge, the government takeovers, and bailouts and help the private sector create jobs,” said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel.