Posted on 06/15/2004 8:14:44 PM PDT by nypokerface
Former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) may have committed an intelligence failure of his own.
The prominent member of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks walked out on a high-profile interview with President Bush to meet Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.).
He wanted to persuade the powerful chairman of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to fund the New School University — the New York institution Kerrey runs.
But the school may not get anything from Congress this year; Domenici, who met Kerrey briefly April 30, told The Hill he wasn’t even aware that his former colleague abandoned the president to keep their appointment, so the gesture seems to have flopped.
Domenici said there may be no money this year for special earmarks in the energy and water appropriations bill — largely because of a budget shortfall caused by the administration’s accounting methods.
Money for earmarks might instead have to pay for a shortfall caused by the administration’s plans for a nuclear-waste repository in Nevada.
As a member of the Sept. 11 commission, Kerrey was interviewing Bush about the events leading to the terrorist attacks. After pushing for months, the panel finally secured a White House compromise that allowed Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to testify together.
Kerrey left the interview about an hour before it finsihed. His spokesman confirmed press reports that it was to keep an appointment with Domenici “for a New School project.”
A well-placed senior Democratic aide said Kerrey requested funding for a “worthwhile” project that would cost a substantial amount of money. It is unclear why Domenici had jurisdiction because the New School is a liberal-arts institution with classes on jazz music and creative writing but no nuclear-energy research labs.
Kerrey’s decision to keep his appointment with Domenici demonstrated his appreciation for the power of the purse. But, said Domenici, 72, “I didn’t even know he came from George Bush. He didn’t say anything to me. I thought maybe he missed one of those 16 hearings — I didn’t know it was a presidential thing.
“Sure, he knows the value of the chair of the subcommittee. He doesn’t have to come over and give me a pep talk.”
The commission’s interview with Bush ran well over its allotment and lasted more than three hours. Kerrey told Byron York of National Review (and a columnist for The Hill) that he had considered rescheduling his appointment with Domenici but then decided he would be able to keep it.
“If I had known there would be this kind of public storm, I would not have left that [commission] meeting,” Kerrey told National Review last month. “If I had this thing to do over again, I wouldn’t leave.”
As it turned out, Kerrey’s meeting with Domenici had to be delayed anyway because of Senate votes, and the two held a brief talk off the Senate floor.
“If I had known that there were votes in the Senate at the time, and Senator Domenici was not in his office, and I would not be able to see him until later, and I would only get 30 seconds or a minute with him, then yes, I would have stayed at the White House,” Kerrey said.
Domenici told The Hill it was uncertain whether there would be any money for earmarks: “We may not get any this year — any.”
He said the chief problem was the administration’s budget request to pay for a controversial nuclear waste repository being built in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. “The administration’s numbers clobbered us because of the way they funded Yucca,” he said.
The administration’s budget for next fiscal year assumes enactment of a $749 million offset through the reclassification of fees paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund.
But that fee change would require 60 votes to clear the Senate, since it would be regarded as an outlay violating the budget-spending cap.
Getting 60 votes would be highly unlikely, since Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and others vigorously oppose the Yucca Mountain site, and will resist any efforts to fund it. Reid not only represents Nevada; he also serves as ranking member on Energy and Water. “We’re taking a look at it,” Reid said of the New School earmark.
“It’s huge,” Domenici said of the overall budget shortfall. “We have to look for [about] $500 million more, starting with his budget, which is too low.” Domenici said Yucca Mountain “may not get funded,” and indicated if it does, the money will come out of members’ projects.
Domenici may be particularly sensitive on the topic because many other projects in the bill pay for energy research in his state, which includes the Los Alamos national research labs.
The fight over Yucca Mountain is heating up. The Nuclear Energy Institute recently began running newspaper ads depicting Congress as tying down a young woman (labeled as Yucca Mountain funding) on railroad tracks in front of an approaching locomotive. Domenici and Reid are expected to fight out the issue on the Senate floor, with Reid trying to hold down Yucca funding and Domenici trying to boost it.
On the House side, Energy and Water Chairman Rep. David Hobson (R-Ohio) and ranking member Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.) have written Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham saying that given the administration’s request, “It is possible that we will only be able to fund the net request of $131 million” for next year — an amount so low that Yucca opponents would consider it a victory.
His awards do NOT give this kerry the right to insult the President of the United States.
Blah, blah, blah! This guy served as a U.S. Senator for 12 years and he doesn't know about schedules & votes? Makes you wonder what the hell he did for 12 years.
I guess he figured the other members of his star chamber could continue the inquisition on their own.
The people from the state of Nebraska wonder, too.
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