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We all remember Speaker Hankey's
promise to “drain the swamp” of the “culture of corruption” and create
“the most ethical Congress in history.” A major component
of her plan was to require that congressional pork projects, called "earmarks,"
which are tacked onto all appropriation bills are identifiable. To that end she passed a
House Resolution that required earmarks "be listed within the texts of applicable legislation next to the names
of members who requested them, and therefore available to the public."
So, how's that going Hankey?
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The more than 32,000 earmarks requested in the Homeland Security
spending bill have roiled the House this week, and now Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D.-Calif.) wants the word ‘earmark’ to just go away.
In
a Tuesday press conference about appropriation bills, Pelosi said, “Why
don’t we leave here today forgetting the word earmark?” She said they
should be called “legislative directives” instead.
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Well 'I'll be horn swaggled. If you can't trust the Speaker of the House, who can you trust? What happened ?
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House Appropriations Chairman Rep. David Obey (D.-Wisc.) said his staff
was unable to print the earmarks into this year’s round of spending
bills, however, because there were too many and it would take up too
much of his staff’s time.
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Oh, I see now. Draining the swamp is too hard. Does that mean you are going to cut and run from this war on swampy things?
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It was at this point that Speaker Pelosi took back the podium and suggested that reporters forget the word “earmark.”
“This
is legislative spending as opposed to executive spending,” she said.
“And in the absence of legislative directives, you have appropriations
bills that are totally dictated by the White House.”
She said
“legislative directives” were a way for “members to come together,
sometimes in a bipartisan way, to have the Congress of the United
States determine what is in the appropriations instead of just leaving
it up to the White House.”
Later, a senior Republican aide
coyly said, “Maybe taxes can be re-termed ‘suggested government
donations to avoid jail time’ or ‘mandated contributions for the common
good.”
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Town Hall via Free Republic
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