Reid keeps the swamp brimming
By Examiner Newspapers
Examiner Staff Writer 9/18/08
But Reid’s move was not just a slap at DeMint. Under pressure from a bipartisan coalition of fiscal watchdog groups, including Porkbusters, Club for Growth, Citizens Against Government Waste, National Taxpayers Union and Taxpayers for Common Sense, President George W. Bush signed an executive order last January that directed federal agencies to ignore earmarks that only appear in committee reports. If DeMint’s proposal had passed, the earmarks in the defense bill’s committee report would have been merely suggestions – not legally binding spending instructions. No wonder Reid made sure the South Carolinian’s amendment never made it to the Senate floor.
A task force created by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., recommends that all earmarks and their congressional sponsors be included explicitly in spending bills, so they can be honestly debated and voted upon by the House and Senate, as the Constitution requires. This would give members of Congress sufficient leeway to direct public funds to worthy projects in their home districts, while making the lawmakers accountable to taxpayers. It is significant that Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., who opposed the DeMint amendment, admitted that it would have created “a huge shift in the power of the purse.” He’s right about that. But a shift from shady legislative maneuvers like Reid’s to full public disclosure and accountability is exactly the kind of change most needed on Capitol Hill. Voters are still waiting for that swamp to be drained.
8 Comments
Reader Comments:
POSTED Sep 19, 2008
Bruce: "Anyone who thinks Obama/Biden would be the best team to clean up this mess is delusional. Hope and change? I don't think so."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
jeanneb: "I think we're beyond the swamp. We have to drain the SEWER first. Harry Reid should be made the poster boy for the failure called "Congress". Lose the war, spend spend spend, refuse to drill, coddle the nutroots. He's done it all. It doesn't hurt, either, that his Uriah Heepishness makes him a fairly ripe target."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
Patrick the Pirate: "You actually believed the democrats when they promised reform? Their idea of reform is switching Republican earmarks to democrat earmarks. Anyone who believes a democrat is capable of change is delusional. The only people in Washington who demand accountability are a (very) few on the Republican side of the aisle."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
fmark: "Jim Demitt, the type of person we need as President. Senator Demitt is one of the few comgressman that represent the interest of the people. The normal is now are the Chuck Shummer and Gramham. Neither are representative of the people."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
malclave: "I'm not sure what "swamp" you're talking about. Since the Democratic Party retook the Congress after the 2006 elections, the political swamp is gone. It is now "protected wetlands"."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
malclave: "I'm not sure what "swamp" you're talking about. Since the Democratic Party retook the Congress after the 2006 elections, the political swamp is gone. It is now "protected wetlands"."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
Bernard Goldman: "Why can't the Republicans just stand up in the congress and name the members and the earmark amounts over a loud speaker and the sleezy method they used to sneak them through."POSTED Sep 19, 2008
Bernard Goldman: "Why can't the Republicans just stand up in the congress and name the members and the earmark amounts over a loud speaker and the sleezy method they used to sneak them through."