The Earmarks Debate Is Reaching A Fevered Pitch . . .
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Economy | Featured Stories — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
And Congressman David Obey is just not happy about it:
A top House Democrat delivered a promise -- and a threat -- on Monday about the disclosure of the pet projects known as earmarks.
Under pressure from Republicans, the Democrat, Representative David R. Obey of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that this year all earmarks and their sponsors would be listed in The Congressional Record a month before they come up for final approval.
Lawmakers and the public can raise questions, sponsors can defend their projects, and the Appropriations Committee will make final decisions.
Mr. Obey warned that he would bar earmarks completely if Republicans attacked individual projects to score political points.
"If they think they can demagogue the earmarks process all year long and expect Democrats to carry the burden of passing earmarks, they're wrong," he said. "Then there will be no earmarks for anybody."
Fine by me. Oh, wait . . . was that supposed to be a threat?
Of course, it is more than a little ridiculous for Obey to take such a hard line against criticism of earmarks when the promise was given earlier this year at the beginning of the 110th Congress that there would be no earmarks. But then, so much in terms of promises has been abandoned by this Congress, hasn't it?
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The Earmarks Debate Is Reaching A Fevered Pitch . . . 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
When Opey threatened "Then there will be no earmarks for anybody." all I can say is -- promises promises. I'd love to see the earmarks disappear just like the Internal Revenue Service.
No, it's not a mis-spelling of his name.
This is how you know our ruling class is disconnected from the rest of us:
They promise us something that 95% of us want, both democrats and republicans, and think it's a threat.
How can this be?
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
this would only make me want to hold him to his promises...if for no other reason than his snotty little statements about demagoguing.
That's the *first* thing I thought of when I heard about Mr. Obey's "threat".
Not a follicle sprouts on his Gluteus Maximus to even threaten something like that. His own Caucus would put his head on a pike on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Wisconsin--Home of Cheese,a 2nd Rate football team, Bratwurst, and some of the most insipid Democrats this nation has to offer.
Hank In NC
We have to have a Congress and representative government because our Founding Fathers designed our government this way, but in reality they definitely seem to have outlasted their usefulness and do nothing but damage now. We are way better off when we either have congressional gridlock or everyone is out on recess and no bills are written, no laws are passed, no earmarks are slipped through. Yes I know how naive this sounds. But the quality of the bodies and the results of their "work" that we have to live with are killing this country. CONGRESS is killing this country.
I know they have to exist. Just educate me as to why they should.
This is only (maybe barely) half tongue-in-cheek. I am beyond disgusted with these people.
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.