The ECAP Coalition issued a statement on the 147 House Republicans who think it's smart to cozy up to the President and his severe budget: 147 House Republicans Cave to Pressure from Right-Wingers to Support Bush Veto and Cut Funding for Americans in Need Congress Has a Clear Choice: Stand with the President's Cuts to Health and Education, or Support America's Hardworking Families WASHINGTON, DC — According to press reports this morning, 147 Republican Members of Congress have caved to political pressure from the GOP leadership and special interests and signed a "Republican Study Committee" letter pledging to support a Presidential veto of any appropriations bill that increase spending on health care, education, and other critical needs for lower- and middle-income families. By signing the right-wing "Republican Study Committee" letter, Members of Congress were pledging to sustain a veto of appropriations measures sight unseen. Congress passed a budget last month that begins to reverse six years of misguided priorities in previous Republican budgets, but the White House has threatened to veto any domestic spending above the President's requested levels, claiming that these much needed and overdue increases would be too expensive. But the fact is that the President's budget would spend far more on tax cuts for millionaires than it would save from all of the cuts to domestic discretionary programs[i].