Posted on 03/01/2009 2:43:17 PM PST by Libloather
Former Rep. William Jefferson has earmarks in spending bill
by Bruce Alpert, The Times-Picayune
February 26, 2009, 5:21 PM
WASHINGTON -- He is no longer a member of Congress, but former Rep. William Jefferson, D-New Orleans, is still delivering the bacon.
Nearly $6 million for seven Louisiana projects sponsored or co-sponsored by Jefferson are included in a $410 billion spending bill approved by the House this week and now awaiting final legislative approval in the Senate.
The spending covers the final seven months of the 2009 fiscal year for nine federal agencies. Largely put together last year, but not enacted because of disagreements between the Democratic-led Congress and the Bush administration, the bill provides about $7 billion in earmarks by members of Congress.
Jefferson, who lost his bid for re-election to Republican Anh "Joseph" Cao, isn't alone among former members with earmarks in the spending bill.
Former Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., now chief of staff for President Barack Obama, secured $900,000 for the Adler Planetarium in his hometown of Chicago. Former Rep. Jim McCrery, R-Shreveport, who retired from Congress and is now a lobbyist, got several items financed, including $1.6 million for a project in his district called Remote Continuous Energetic Material Manufacturing for Pyrotechnics.
**SNIP**
Earmarks continue to be controversial, and some members of Congress have said that they were unhappy that the spending bill included by one count more than $7.7 billion worth of earmarks for 8,500 projects.
But Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said that earmarks, as long as they are fully disclosed with the names of the sponsoring members, are better than having "the White House and its anonymous bureaucrats make every single spending decision in government."
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
shame!
Just long enough to elect someone into office that will pardon him for all his wrong doing.
This is what you get when you sit out of the primaries conservatives and let the DBM/dems nominate a rino for our party!
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