So far this year, House lawmakers have put together spending bills that include almost 6,500 earmarks for almost $11 billion in local projects…lawmakers have often competed to have their names attached to individual earmarks and rushed to put out press releases claiming credit for the money they bring home…The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has obtained about $63 million worth of projects, most of them in or near her district in San Francisco. But Ms. Pelosi was overshadowed by Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, who obtained $163 million in pet projects  more than anyone else in Congress and more than his own previous record of about $100 million…Among the thousands of earmarks tucked into House or Senate spending bills: $2.6 million for a new grape genetics research center at Cornell University; $738,000 to study cancer-fighting chemicals in raspberries at Ohio State University; a contract for Texas A&M University to study the “root causesâ€? of post-traumatic stress disorder; and $3.6 million to design a Coast Guard Operations Systems Center in Kearneysville, W.Va.
These arrogant, despicable earmarks by the Democrats, who came to power decrying the Republicans’ “culture of corruption,” are the height of cynicism and hypocrisy. And a massive betrayal of the public trust.
It’s not easy for ANYONE to have a lower approval rating than President Bush, (or your local used car dealer), but because of behavior like this, Congress has managed to do exactly that.
Shameful. And infuriating.
I’ll gladly allow them to spend billions in pork for even an inkling of ACTUAL oversight of the executive. That seems like a fair deal for a unitary executive run (seemingly) amuck, yeah?
Congress can effectively perform its oversight responsibilities without trading pet projects for legal bribes. The Commerce Clause was never intended for the benefit of lobbyists and the special interests that have bought our legislators and sold them to the highest donors.
Everyone welcome Sam Saunders to the site – former drum major of the Cadets.
Glad to have you here, Sam.
I blame the voting (and non-voting) citizens of the U.S. for this travesty.
What is it going to take to get the people of this country riled enough to kick these bums out?
It won’t happen until they stop voting for the craven whores who bring the bacon home.
Vince,
An even better question would be – what is it going to take for Congress to end pet projects, legislate meaningful campaign finance reform and impose term limits?
The people of this country did kick out the bums in charge last November. Unfortunately, the Democrats have failed to do what they were empowered to do – end the war in Iraq (which is why Congressional approval hovers near 14%).
All we did last November was to kick out the latest group of bums and replace them with more of the same.
Something seems to happen to people who make it to Washington; whatever honest intentions they might have had before running for Congress seem always to be corrupted once they attain office.
It’s just too easy for them to take money from lobbyists –money needed to finance the next election. And until we remove that need, and finance all campaigns with PUBLIC FUNDS, we’ll continue to have a new group of corrupt, easily-bought bums every two years.
As for those representatives who abuse the earmarks process, the solution to that would appear to be term limits. That would eliminate the possibility of re-election, thereby rendering pork — and the need to bring home the bacon — meaningless.
Some of these answers seem obvious. But I doubt that Congress will have the will and the courage to change the way it does business; it’s just too comfortable and profitable the way it is now.
Once again Steve Levine says what I wanted to say.
I agree that public funding of Congressional election campaigns is the only way to stop the madness.
No one would be deprived of his free ‘speech’ by these much-needed reforms.
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