Posted on 02/24/2009 10:57:22 AM PST by Jim Robinson
President Obama on Monday vowed to reel in wasteful Washington spending and blasted deceptive "accounting tricks" used by the Bush administration to fund the Iraq war even as House Democrats released a $410 billion stopgap spending bill studded with thousands of pork-barrel projects.
The 1,000-plus-page spending bill provides a fat target for deficit hawks. It includes hundreds of pages of earmarks - pet spending projects inserted by lawmakers, ranging from $185,000 for coral reef research and preservation in Maui County, Hawaii, to $55,000 in meteorological equipment for Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif., to $9.9 million for science enhancement at historically black colleges in South Carolina.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, defended the spending blueprint that is needed to fund more than a dozen Cabinet departments for the final seven months of the federal fiscal year. She said the increases were needed to fund programs and policies starved for dollars under President George W. Bush. It is a $30 billion, or 8 percent, increase over comparable budgets for the same departments in fiscal 2008.
A spokeswoman for House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey, Wisconsin Democrat, said each earmark included in the bill was spelled out and linked to the member who had requested it, a disclosure practice that began when Democrats regained control of the House in 2006.
"There aren't nearly as many earmarks in these bills as there were when [the Republicans] were in power, and unlike those days, every earmark is listed, every sponsor identified, and the public has a chance for real accountability," said Kirstin Brost, a spokeswoman for Mr. Obey.
At the White House, Mr. Obama, who sharply attacked earmarks on the campaign trail, did not take a stance on the thousands of items included in the bill.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Do we get to read this one before a vote is held?
Just askin....
Here in Phoenix one of the weekend radio jockeys were talking about the bloat in the budget during his real estate talk show. He said that the spate of earmarks and pork represented all the pent up backlog of spending that the Dems were unable to get signed by Bush for the last 8 years.
It occurred to me that the spending “backlog” is akin to constipation. And we all know what results when that problem is solved! :)
The word “stuffed” doesn’t even come close to describe how much ear marked Crapulus are in it.
I am confused!
Wasn’t Nancy Pelosi the Speaker of House in 2008?
Weren’t the Democrats in the majority in 2008? (And wasn’t the Democrats in charge of the Senate as well)
And don’t all spending bills originate in the House?
So how is it that she can possibly blame insufficient budget allocations on the President?
bttt
>>>Spending bill stuffed with earmarks
What I find interesting is the emphasis on the earmarks. While they are obviously a problem, they amount to $3.8 billion (accrording to taxpayers for commin sense) in the proposed $410 billion budget bill. Supposing the democrats were somehow humiliated into taking them out, we would still have a bill over $400 billion. I know that it is easy to mock many of these expenditures, but they are not what is driving the growth in government spending. I get the feeling this is an easy way out for Republicans in Congress to attack the bill and look fiscally conservative without having to really have to do anything about the growth in spending in the bill itself.
Badeye wrote:I wouldn't hold my breath (though with the coming carbon tax, I might not be able to afford to exhale).
Do we get to read this one before a vote is held?
So far, I don't think they've even shown it to the Republicans. Boehner has been complaining since February 5, maybe longer. He wants to see it, and wants it posted on the Internet so the public can see it.
The article in the Washington Times doesn't mention this, but this must be passed and signed into law by March 6. That's when the current "continuing resolution" that funds all of the federal government runs out.
They didn't pass a single appropriations bill last year because they wanted to spend more than Bush asked for.
Also, since we've been on a continuing resolution that continued 2008 budget levels, an 8% total increase for the yearly budget will actually be a 16% increase for the next 6 months. They can't go back through the last six months and spend the money.
What do you mean stuffed with earmarks... It’s one big earmark.
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