FreedomWorks has typically stayed out of foreign policy debates, preferring to concentrate its lobbying and activist efforts on fiscal and economic issues. However, they’re making an exception for the upcoming votes in the House and Senate on a resolution regarding use of force in Syria:
FreedomWorks is urging lawmakers to vote against a congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force in Syria and will use lawmakers’ positions as a key vote in its congressional scorecards, POLITICO has learned.
The conservative group will also use its organizational muscle to rally activists to jam congressional phone lines to demand that lawmakers focus on the U.S. economy and debt rather than an overseas conflict.
In a statement set for release on Friday morning, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe says his organization has been “overwhelmed” with requests for help getting the word out in opposition to a strike on Syria and that many Americans have “already roundly rejected the Obama Administration’s rationale for bombing Syria.” Kibbe will also emphasize that even a limited military action in Syria could have dire long-term consequences for the U.S. economy.
“The costs of brinksmanship in an ongoing civil war are steep, and a collapse of state would fall in our laps. In other words, if we break it, we buy it,” Kibbe will say. “Americans can agree that the strength of our country ultimately depends upon our fiscal stability. While our nation is capable of summoning its superpower, it would be reckless for Congress to bankrupt us in the process.”
FreedomWorks will use the vote in its annual scorecards of lawmaker voting patterns.
This potentially complicates efforts to pass a Syria resolution given the sway that the organization has among Republicans, especially in the House.
