Redstate

(But Representatives Hensarling and Flake are not through yet.)

By Mark Kilmer Posted in Archived — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton (Bill) goon, was chairperson of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) in 2006, charged with drafting warm bodies who would wear a D on their lapels and could beat Republicans in moderate districts. The idea was to get Nancy the majority, all else be damned.

Now, the Congressperson from neo-Daly's Chicago runs the House Democratic Caucus, and he penned an Op/Ed for the quixotic New York Times defending Congressional pork: Don't Get Rid of Earmarks!

[E]armarks were at the heart of corruption scandals in Washington. Democrats never promised to eliminate earmarks. We promised to reform them.

Some earmarks, he explains, are nice, happy earmarks!

Read On…

It took a Congressional earmark, sponsored by Representative Frank Wolf, Republican of Virginia, to finance the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, whose report gave us the benchmarks we needed to hold President Bush and the Iraqi government accountable. Without that earmark, we would not be able to measure the progress this administration has been claiming in Iraq for four years — which is precisely why the administration resisted it.

And the Iraq Study Group accomplished… what, exactly? They offered another set of talking points, opinions of men deemed wise by those who do such deeming at all hours of the night. It was not bizarre museum or a bridge to nowhere fast secured by some Critter for his own district. Rahm's stoking strange feelings, which is easy to do with the emotion-driven readership of the NYT.

Rahm goes on:

In my own district, I obtained an earmark to rebuild a bridge that not only was rated as deficient but also was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as a major evacuation route in case of a terrorist attack on Chicago. Does that make me an “earmark thug” or a congressman who took care of a critical need in his district?

And with that project, Rahm's office reports the rest of his pork from the 2005 Transportation Equity Act, including this one:

Foster and Kedzie Streetscape
Emanuel secured $1.6 million to invest in a “streetscape” for Foster Avenue from North Spaulding to the North Shore Channel. In recent years, the City of Chicago has received high rates of return on their investments in “streetscape” projects. Replacing sidewalks and gutters, improving lighting, and landscaping medians and walkways helps restore aging streets and creates vibrant social and economic corridors. In nearly every instance, property values have increased and local merchants have witnessed more business.

Also this one, Rahm:

West Ridge Nature Preserve
Emanuel secured $2.8 million for the creation of a new nature preserve and park. This money will be used in conjunction with contributions from the City and State to purchase unused land from Rosehill Cemetery in order to create the West Ridge Nature Preserve. This funding will help create bike paths, walking trails and other recreational activities.

How is that project coming along, Rahm?

There's more stuff at the site linked.

But Rahm, in his NYT piece, tells us the Dems have safeguards to prevent these shenanigans in the future:

The new Democratic Congress now requires that each earmark be fully described and its sponsor identified. Members of Congress who sponsor earmarks must certify that they have no personal financial interest in them. Any private entity that might benefit must be clearly reported. Each of these reforms is now mandatory, in stark contrast to previous practices.

The Democratic Congress is getting kind of old by now.

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio gives us a more accurate account:

The new procedures forced through the House by the Democratic majority in January 2007 included a little-noticed change to the 2006 House Republican rules. The change made it impossible for Members to challenge individual earmarks on the House floor as long as the underlying bill contains a list of the earmarks in the bill – a procedure Democratic leaders began to exploit almost immediately after taking power.

• * Earmarks Can No Longer Be Challenged on House Floor. Under the Democrats’ revised rules, Members are barred from challenging individual earmarks in bills on the floor under any circumstances as long as there’s a list of earmarks in the bill. This prohibition applies EVEN IF THE LIST IS INACCURATE, AND THE EARMARK A MEMBER SEEKS TO CHALLENGE DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE LIST. This conveniently-flawed process was exploited by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) to secure passage of an illegitimate taxpayer-funded earmark via an important intelligence authorization bill, over the vehement objections of House Republicans.
• * Earmark-Laden Bills Can Now Be Certified as “Earmark-Free.” The Democrats also gutted the Republican earmark reforms by allowing bills to be certified by the majority as “earmark-free” even if they contain earmarks. If a bill comes to the floor with hundreds of millions of dollars worth of earmarks, yet is certified by Chairman Obey as “earmark-free,” it is considered earmark-free under House rules, and there’s nothing any other Member can do about it. House Democrats exploited this loophole to pass a massive spending bill (“continuing resolution”) in February 2007 that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding for hidden earmarks.

Past Congresses helped turn the people’s house into an auction house. The old earmark process empowered the special interests. Now, in the space of a few months, the new Democratic Congress has taken earmarks out of the shadows while cutting their cost by half. We have preserved Congress’s power of the purse and given our constituents, the news media and even our political opponents the most useful tool to guard against corruption: sunshine.

Bob Novak puts the lie to Rahm's cavalier blather with a few mentions of Okinawa Jack Murtha's mindless corruption:

Considering the Interior Appropriations bill June 26, the House kept alive 11 egregious earmarks. Rep. John Murtha, king of Democratic earmarkers, kept $1.2 million for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Heritage Preservation Commission in Hollidaysburg, Pa. (by a 343 to 86 vote), and $150,000 for W.A. Young & Sons Foundry in Greene County, Pa. (328 to 104). The House voted 323 to 104 to retain $140,000 for the Wetzel County, W. Va., courthouse sponsored by Democratic Rep. Allan Mollohan, whose earmarks have provoked an FBI investigation.

Moving on to Financial Services Appropriations June 28, the House voted 335 to 87 to continue Murtha's raid on the Treasury: $231,000 for the Grace Johnstown (Pa.) Area Regional Industries Incubator.

Republican Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona stands tall in this struggle against what really is waste and corruption, and he goes after Porkers wherever they be, whatever the letter (D or R) on their lapels.

Novak:

As usual, dauntless Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona led the way in targeting colleagues' earmarks. He did not exempt Republican pork fanciers -- including 15-term California Rep. Jerry Lewis, ranking minority member of the Appropriations Committee, whose past earmarking raised ethical questions.

Flake opposed Lewis's $500,000 earmark for the Barracks Row Main Street project in Southeast Washington, D.C. Flake noted on the House floor that millions in federal funds have flowed into that neighborhood since 1999, including a $750,000 earmark last year. "I certainly hope," said Flake, "that we are not approving a redevelopment earmark today to redevelop last year's redevelopment earmark." Such comments led Republican leaders last year to purge Flake from the House Judiciary Committee. A smiling, sarcastic Lewis asked Flake: "Have you ever attended the Silent March that takes place on Friday evenings at the Marine barracks [on Barracks Row]?" "I have not," Flake replied. "You have not. I would suggest to the gentleman that probably one of the most important things that a Member of Congress should do is to go to the Marine barracks." Lewis's earmark was retained, 361 to 60.

Congressman Flake is not alone. Arizona Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling is the other champion pork-buster in the earmark-drunk House:

“I believe this is a significant problem. Last year the American people spent $29 billion of their hard-earned dollars on earmarks — that’s more money than we spent as an entire nation on veteran’s health care,” Hensarling said. “Earmarks may only be a small portion of the annual budget, but they are a large portion of the culture of spending in Washington, and $29 billion is still a lot of money.”

According to Hensarling, “pork” has increased as a percentage of spending bills almost 10-fold in the last decade.

Contrast that with Rahm from his NYT op/ed:

We pledged to clean up the abuses in the earmark process, and we kept that promise. I’ve been in politics long enough not to wait around for a pat on the back, but our reforms do not deserve a kick in the pants either. To ignore our reforms as if they never occurred and to criticize us for not ending a practice we never pledged to end is disingenuous.

Rahm, you've just patted yourself on the back. You did a fine job of throwing the hatchet for Clinton (Bill), so now we can see what you can do for Nancy and Jack. You people ought not to be entrusted with someone's grocery budget much less the Congress of the United States.