Posted on 06/11/2007 9:37:31 AM PDT by jazusamo
Monday, June 11, 2007
This week on the House floor Democrats in Congress will begin their efforts in earnest to hide pork-barrel projects from voters, budget watchdog groups, and Republicans who challenge wasteful spending. They’re gutting rules designed to help voters know where their tax dollars are going and creating massive slush funds for secret earmarks. And while they shut voters out of the budget process, they’re spending more with each passing day – an extra $105 billion so far this year alone. With the first four major appropriations bill on the House floor this week, Republicans are saying, “Enough is enough.”
Last fall, Democratic leaders repeatedly promised to lead Congress in a more “open” and “honest” fashion. Now they’re not only breaking those promises, they’re actively moving in the opposite direction.
It started in January when Democrats gutted Republican earmark reforms by allowing bills to be certified as “earmark-free” -- even if they contain earmarks. House Democrats exploited this loophole to pass a massive spending bill (“continuing resolution”) in February that contained hundreds of millions of dollars in hidden earmarks. The conveniently-flawed procedure was most famously abused by Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) who secured passage of an illegitimate taxpayer-funded earmark in bill meant to fund our intelligence activities. Murtha was caught by C-SPAN’s cameras threatening House Republicans who tried to object.
After that incident, Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) announced he would simply bypass the rules entirely and “air-drop” pork-projects into legislation after it is too late for lawmakers to challenge them on the House floor. Each of the Democrats’ appropriations bills will include a multi-billion dollar slush fund to make room for these secret earmarks that are being hidden from public scrutiny.
Responding to overwhelming criticism of his plan, Obey has graciously said he will allow Members of Congress to “read the bills” and “write the committee” to inquire about earmarks. That’s nice and all, but as the Wisconsin State Journal – Obey’s home state newspaper – wrote: “With this maneuver, Obey would enhance his own power but prevent the public and most lawmakers from questioning earmarks until it is too late.”
This is reflective of a decades-old belief by Democrats that Washington politicians know how to spend our money better than we do. Democrats won’t even let us see where they’re spending tax dollars anymore – we’re just supposed to nod and smile, and understand that they know what’s best for us.
Well I don’t buy it.
Obey’s insider process will make it easier than ever for Members of Congress to protect the kind of secret spending they know wouldn’t survive public scrutiny. It makes a mockery of the Democrats’ pledge to make the appropriations process more open and transparent.
Couple this with Democrats’ rabid desire to raise taxes and you have real trouble for middle class families and small businesses. They’ve already approved tax hikes on American energy companies (which raises prices at the gas pump), a massive $392.5 billion tax hike on married couples and working families, and are poised to raise taxes again on small businesses and family farmers through the alternative minimum tax. I guess it makes sense to the majority – they have to get the money somewhere for all of their secret spending. It’s just a shame they choose to use taxpayers as their personal piggybank rather than find ways to cut spending elsewhere.
So how do we fix this?
Republicans are declaring war on secret earmarks and wasteful spending, and will fight at every opportunity to force the majority to restore the reforms we enacted last year – the first of their kind – that injected real transparency and real accountability into the budget process. These reforms required public disclosure of all earmarks and their sponsors contained in any bill, making the earmark process more open and transparent to taxpayers. They allowed lawmakers, for the first time ever, to challenge individual taxpayer-funded earmarks.
Americans expect and deserve that kind of transparency and accountability from Congress. Democrats flatly refuse to allow the House to actually debate or vote to remove wasteful earmarks. Republicans will use every tool at our disposal to force the majority to re-adopt our rules and keep their promises to voters.
John Boehner is the Republican Minority Leader for the House of Representatives.
this is rich
Tg, that’s exactly what my instructor said on Saturday about gun control.
About six years too late for that.
Everyone who was “outraged” is probably now just resigned.
They should have done this when they were in power.
They would still be in power.
IGNORANT
President Bush Signs Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act
The United States Capitol building is really much like a prison. Filled with cheap criminals and thieves. Only at the end of the day they go home or to a political meeting while at prison the criminals are in lock down.
So, you suggest they just roll over and play dead?
Where were ya John, when you had the power?
Little late to be griping when the horse is out of the barn.
Took the words right off my fingers.
Someone should tell Boehner this exact thing: “Hey, Morons! If you’d shown some of this moxie to take on earmarks and spending when you were in power... you’d still be in power!”
So now we know that Republicans act conservative only when they’re in the minority. Thanks for the clue, guys.
That Obey is one slimy S.O.B. That he’s chair of the Appropriations Committee is a sin.
I can’t blame Dems, given the 31,000 ‘earmarks’ Tom Delay sheparded through before his fall from power.
That said, David Obey is a first class a$$hole.
No they had the power to be more effective from 1994 to 2006. They pissed away their time.
Voters put you into the majority before. You had your chance to fix uncontrolled spending, but laughed your way through one pork-laden bill after another.
Don't you dare have the unmitigated gall to blame all the pork on the Democrats. That's insulting in the highest degree.
I’m throwing the bull$hit card in on this one.
Agree completely with you both.
But why the hell didn't you guys do this two years ago????
While I agree with what you say the president did sign the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act last September (post 26) but it was a day late and a dollar short. It seems it’s being ignored now.
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