"The Most Ethical Congress In History"
Talk About Your Close Calls
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Democrats | Featured Stories — Comments (1) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
When you read this story, remember that John Murtha was Nancy Pelosi's pick for Majority Leader.
House Republicans plan to force a floor vote next week aimed at embarrassing Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., for an alleged threat to retaliate against a GOP lawmaker who sought to eliminate one of his earmarks.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a written statement last night that he would support a privileged resolution that Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., is expected to offer Monday.
Rogers contends that Murtha, chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, threatened on the floor yesterday to deny earmarks to Rogers "now and forever" in retaliation for Rogers' unsuccessful effort May 11 to strip a Murtha earmark from the fiscal 2008 intelligence authorization bill (HR 2082).
New rules adopted this year say a member "may not condition the inclusion of language to provide funding for a congressional earmark, a limited tax benefit, or a limited tariff benefit in any bill or joint resolution . . . on any vote cast by another member."
More below the fold . . .
More:
During a series of House votes Thursday, Murtha walked to the chamber's Republican side to confront Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., a 43-year-old former FBI agent. Earlier this month, Rogers had tried unsuccessfully to strike a Murtha earmark from an intelligence spending bill. The item would restore $23 million for the National Drug Intelligence Center, a facility in Murtha's Pennsylvania district that some Republicans say is unneeded.
According to Rogers' account, which Murtha did not dispute, the Democrat angrily told Rogers he should never seek earmarks of his own because "you're not going to get any, now or forever."
"This was clearly designed to try to intimidate me," Rogers said in an interview Friday. "He said it loud enough for other people to hear."
But Murtha has defenders. Right?
The House's top Democratic leaders declined to comment on the Murtha-Rogers incident.
keep doing what they are doing because this nasty illegal alien bill is coming their way and they are going to need every little dirty trick in the old book to stop it.