Earmarxists
By Erick Posted in Congress — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Reading this Wall Street Journal op-ed, I can't help but think we should be calling anti-war porkers in Congress "Earmarxists."
Thus has Mr. Bush's request for $100 billion to fund the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus $3 billion to replenish the disaster-relief fund, devolved into a $124.6 billion logrolling extravaganza. You can get the flavor from the bill's very first words on page two: "Title I--Supplemental Appropriations for the Global War on Terror Chapter 1 Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service." Forget the Marines; send in the meat inspectors.
This bill has everything the modern military doesn't need. There's $25 million for spinach, designed to attract the vote of Sam Farr, a California farm-region liberal. Perhaps spinach growers who lost business due to last year's E. coli scare need this taxpayer bailout, but it won't intimidate the Taliban unless Mr. Farr plans to draft Popeye.
In order to buy off the anti-war peaceniks, America's Mother-in-LawTM and her merry band of Earmarxists have decided to change the "no blood for oil" slogan of the left to "some blood for peanuts."
The American public and the Presidential veto pen both need to say "No" to the Earmarxists.
(H/T to Jed Babbin who had the brain storm)
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Earmarxists 4 Comments (0 topical, 4 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
The single biggest problem with US government these days is lack of transparency. Bills should be advanced on single topics and/or any riders should be very clearly traceable to the person that wrote them in. These things should be well published by a press that actually cares (whoa - what am I thinkin??). I agree with Old Crow - earmarks are the crack cocaine of our government and detox is overdue. If the Republican leadership had any courage, they would publicly be chiding the Democrats to come as clean as they promised in the election.
The same goes, of course for campaign finance. Make reporting every contribution mandatory, make it visible.
it will have to get a whole lot worse before this issue gets addressed in a comprehensive manner.
Log rolling and consensus building are congressional standards. Everyone has grown accustomed to getting their fat envelope full of bills.
A kleptocracy doesn't fail until there isn't enough left to stuff everyone's envelope.
Kyoto Now! (Because only pollution from the US hurts the planet)
Here is a good link to a Heritage article with more details, for those interested. My favorites:
After averaging $10 billion throughout the 1990s, annual spending on farm subsidies has doubled to an average of $20 billion in the current decade following the passage of the most expensive farm bill in American history in 2002. Despite that net farm income broke records between 2003 and 2006, the supplemental would provide $4 billion more in nationwide agriculture disaster assistance. These funds were not requested by the Department of Agriculture (USDA).
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* $6.4 million for additional salaries and expenses for the House of Representatives; and
* $16 million for additional office space for the House of Representatives.
<...>
A $400 million appropriation for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) represents the taxpayer bill for gimmicks Congress employed last year. One year ago, Congress voted to take $1 billion in LIHEAP funding designated for 2007 and use it in 2006. When asked if this policy would simply create a 2007 shortfall that taxpayers would have to make up, proponents such as Olympia Snowe (R-ME) promised that the shift would not cost taxpayers a dime. Now in 2007, right on cue, Congress is calling for $400 million to replenish the "LIHEAP shortfall."
Who is behind OMB blocking the public listing of earmarks? Certainly appears to be an Executive Branch decision... It will play out later this month.
Earmarks are the crack cocaine of politics - time to detox or clean house (and senate).
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"Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." -- James Madison