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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Is Orrin Hatch a Threat to Utah Jobs?

Of course not, but Bob Bennett suggests Hatch is.

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  March 22nd, 2010 at 10:05 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Just the other day Republican Senator Bob Bennett released a letter attacking Mike Lee for Lee’s opposition to earmarks in relation to ATK Thiokol, a major employer in Utah.

According to Bennett, the only way to protect ATK Thiokol’s NASA contracts is through earmarks, and trying to scare delegates into believing that because Mike Lee supports earmark reform (and a one-year moratorium), he presents a threat to the 3,000 high-paying jobs that ATK Thiokol currently provides in northern Utah.

The letter falsely implies that Lee would favor an appropriations process that would result in the executive branch receiving a series of blank checks from Congress. Bennett knows this to be false, given that he has heard Lee explain that my concern with earmarks focuses on efforts by Congress to channel funds to specific States, localities, and businesses.

Never mind that Orrin Hatch was on the opposite side of Bennett on this issue. Is Orrin Hatch a threat to jobs in Utah? Of course not. Neither is Mike Lee.

Bob Bennett has grown desperate and he is as much a threat to freedom as the Democrats.

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COMMENTS

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  • wrgc1776

    Bennett should reconsider his political affiliation. He votes like a Democrat, he talks like a Democrat, he thinks like a Democrat. A good case in point is his health care proposal that was worse than Obama’s. It’s high time we elect a REAL conservative to replace him. Mike Lee comes to mind.

  • lynntaylor

    Of course the issue of “earmarks” isn’t about Congress give a blank check to the Executive branch. It’s about political paybacks for dropping money directly on a particular business or pet project. Mike Lee’s position on earmarks is a call for earmark *reform*.

    Federal funding (aside from far overreaching its Constitutional limits) should not be a gift to chosen recipients. It should be directed to worthwhile projects that are subject to an open competition between multiple businesses. Or better yet, allocate the money to the states for their legislatures to budget. Best of all, stop sucking all the money out of the states and handing it back with strings attached… let the states tax the people and handle the programs themselves!