October 21, 2005
Grand Theft Earmark
J'accuse! The United States Senate has lost its collective mind. And the Unites States House of Representatives isn't far behind. It seems as though a certain Democrat from Washington State, I won't mention her name, but her initials are Patty Murry got her dander up regarding the quite sensible motions by one Oklahoma Republican by the name of Tom Coburn. She threatend any Senator who goes after the tradition of "earmarks" with retaliation. Tom Coburn stood up to the unmitigated theft. In taking the floor, not once but twice yesterday, Coburn, in the words of the Wall Street Journal:
...dared to use the "p" word ("Priorities") and suggested that taxpayers might be better served if hurricane relief was offset by deleting earmarks for a sculpture garden in Washington state, an art museum in Nebraska, and a Rhode Island animal shelter, among other national necessities (emphasis added).Powerline blogged the issue here and here as well as here. From the last:
...Patty Murray is now speaking against the Coburn Amendment, and has just issued a threat against any Senators who vote for the amendment: we on the Appropriations Committee will take a "long, hard look" at any projects in your state. Can anyone say, "culture of corruption"?
So, Ms. Murry, I have a question for you, and for any other congress-critter:
When will Members of Congress quit worrying about bringing home the bacon, and really vote what is best for America and then stand up to their constituents and say "I voted in America's Best Interests." Are you brave enough to do that, or is your elected job more important than what is right for America?Unfortunately, given Ms. Murry's staunch defense of a sculpture garden (Oh, that'll help the victims of Katrina for sure... ed.) it is pretty clear that earmarks are much more sacred than doing what is right.
Damn these people!
Posted by GM Roper at October 21, 2005 07:33 AM | TrackBackY'know, when we were new, the intention was for one person or another to get elected by his neighbors, leave his citizen existence for one term, serve his country, then return to his normal life to reap as a citizen what he'd sown as a politician.
I wasn't around to see how it worked back then, but I imagine it worked better then than the government does when Congress is run by a whole bunch of career reps and senators who've been at the same job for a couple of generations or longer.
"Congress critter" about sums most of them up, but so does "Old Boy Network."
Posted by Seth at October 21, 2005 09:02 AM
Kudos to Senator Coburn for having the "stones" to challenge the status quo. I do have a question: did he include any "earmarks" from his home State in his list of low(er) priority items? Doing so would have advanced his argument by undermining his critics.
My college Economics professor (a Milton Freedman, Chicago School guy) was fond of saying, in relation to the functioning of our State and Federal Congresses, that the most obscene word in the English language is "Reciprocity".
And don't talk to me about those brave souls (all 15 of them) who voted against Coburn: they new the measure would fail and likely had permission from their fellow Senators to cast a "principled" vote.
Arggggggh.
Posted by too many steves at October 21, 2005 12:39 PM
TMS... Cobern is apparantly very principled. He has stated that he will not earmark until and unless this budget is under control and thus was not fazed by the shennanigans of Ms. Murry (CBHN) which of course in lefty politics means "cursed be her name" Murry represents all that is wrong with the sleezeballs that are voting themselves votes from their constituents with pork.
Posted by GM Roper at October 21, 2005 02:52 PM
This behavior -- unprincipled spending coupled with a reckless abandon of fiscal responsibility -- will be the fastest road to the destruction of our republic (althought the misallocation of homeland security funds ranks a close second). Lopping off a few billion from the poorest in our country to feed the pigs isn't going to cut it either. Meanwhile, the president to date has just stood by as far as I can tell.
Bravo to the following senators who voted for sanity:
Tom Coburn (R-OK) Russ Feingold (D-WI) Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Jim DeMint (R-SC) David Vitter (R-LA) Mary Landrieu (D-LA) John Sununu (R-NH) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Richard Burr (R-NC) Wayne Allard (R-CO) Jeff Sessions (R-AL) Evan Bayh (D-IN) Mike DeWine (R-OH) Kent Conrad (D-ND) George Allen (R-VA)
Unfortunately, my senators, to their shame, voted to continue the partying.
(TMS, I think the word you were looking for is "cojones".)
Posted by civil truth at October 21, 2005 06:26 PM
And you'll notice that no one from California stood up to be counted, sorry if I don't faint from shock.
I've been to(and spoken at) numerous district meetings here in San Francisco, and it's always the same BS -- the few of us who push for important options to be considered are always opposed by idiot liberals who want to allocate money or land to feel good stuff we already have more than enough of, and it becomes obvious that they're more concerned with their mares-eat-oats-and-does-eat-oats agendas than with issues like public safety, the economy or anything having to do with practicality.
These are the kind of folks that keep politicians of Patty Murray's ilk in office. The entire west coast is full of 'em, from Seattle to San Ysidro.
Posted by Seth at October 21, 2005 11:36 PM
