Porkkky Byrd Ignores Earmarks Moratorium
By Erick Posted in Congress | Culture of Corruption | Earmarks — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
There is an "earmarks moratorium" on Capitol Hill right now. The Democrats aren't making and they aren't taking any new earmarks. Except, of course, they are.
Porkkky Byrd, the distinguished Roman Senator from West Virginia and Appropriations Chairman, is . . . shhhhh . . . secretly soliciting earmark requests in violation of the Democrats' own moratorium. In many cases, he is even ignoring disclosure requirements pertaining to these earmarks.
Enter our hero, Sen. Tom "Trainwreck" Coburn, who has fired off a letter to Sen. Byrd demanding accountability. In his letter, Senator Coburn writes
While I am encouraged by your pledge to ‘place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put in place,’ I am very concerned that Senate Appropriations subcommittees are actively soliciting earmark requests even though a ‘reformed process’ is not in place.
and then goes on to say
I am extremely disappointed and troubled by the fact that Senate Appropriations Subcommittees are soliciting earmarks but not complying with the basic requirements of Section 103 of S.1. In the absence of final Senate enactment of meaningful earmark reform, the Senate Appropriations Committee has the ability to make earmark information public immediately. The Committee’s failure to make earmark information public would make a mockery of recently passed earmark reforms and would suggest to taxpayers that the Senate wants to continue to earmark funds in secret.
Keep the heat on, Senator Coburn. And we should note President Bush could go a long way toward overcoming recent accusations that he's gone wobbly on earmarks by reiterating that the administration will not honor earmarks tucked away in committee reports.
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Porkkky Byrd Ignores Earmarks Moratorium 4 Comments (0 topical, 4 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
In Virginia I was a campaign kick-off for one of our conservatve state senators. He is kind of like Coburn, fighting waste and all of that. He said he hates going to Richmond but does it out of duty. I thought to myself, thats what a politician should be. He shouldn't "like" doing it. Thats the difference between Coburn and Byrd and what they represent. Coburn does this out of repsonsibility, not becaue he likes it. Byrd loves it, and loves the game of it all. Its almost not real to him. Coburn understands life outside of politics.
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"As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this."
- George Mason
Right, Starkist?
All this talk about doing away with earmarks from "the most ethical congress in history" is just... talk.
Then again, they're Democrats, so dishonesty is no surprise.
Check out this article titled; Looks- Bush-has-caved------
when Coburn comes up for re-election, I imagine that I'll be able to find something for him even though I'm from Georgia.