CEDAR RAPIDS - "No" is really underrated these days, according to Rep. Mike Pence, an Indiana Republican who will headline a GOP picnic fundraiser in Linn County tonight.

"When I travel around the country, there are a whole lot of people who are glad Republicans are saying 'no' to all of this runaway federal spending and big government," Pence said in an interview Thursday.

The picnic will begin at 5:30 p.m. at Palisades-Kepler State Park Lodge near Mount Vernon. For tickets, contact Dawn Brown at (319) 533-2289 or e-mail dbrown@cedar-rapids.net.

The GOP is doing more than saying "no," Pence said. Their alternative to the $787 billion federal stimulus was "fast-acting tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms." They proposed an "all of the above" approach to energy independence as an option to Democrats' national energy tax, he said.

Their alternative to Democrats $1 trillion government takeover of health-care is "modest reforms that lower the cost of health insurance and invigorate our insurance economy," pence said.

"We all want to bring about the kind of changes that reduce the cost of health-care and health insurance," he said.