Congress loads up $20 billion in pork

[Goobieman]

Congress loads up $20 billion in pork
WASHINGTON - Congress has loaded up President Bush's request for "emergency" spending on the Iraq war with more than $20 billion in "pork" for members' districts.

Money for peanut storage in Georgia, spinach growers in California, menhaden in the Atlantic Ocean and even more office space for the lawmakers themselves is included in what has ballooned into a $124 billion war bill.

This emergency supplemental bill has more ornaments hanging over our many branches of government than the White House Christmas tree," Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., said.

Originally, Bush asked for $105 billion in emergency funding. Democratic leaders say they want to grant the request to continue funding the war despite their desire to end it.

Congress loads up $20 billion in pork - Examiner.com

Lets hear it for those fiscally responsible, spendthrift Democrats!!!

 

[Iriemon]

Congress loads up $20 billion in pork - Examiner.com

Lets hear it for those fiscally responsible, spendthrift Democrats!!!

Only $20 billion? A vast improvement over the previous 6 years. Good job Democrats.

 

[BWG]

With the disclaimer that I am not in agreement with the pork.

Under newly approved Democratic rules, that would require offsets to pay for the new spending.

 

[Goobieman]

With the disclaimer that I am not in agreement with the pork.

Rep. Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican who sits on the committee, said he will try amending the bill today. First, he wants to strip out the non-emergency, member-requested spending and force it to go through the normal appropriations process. Under newly approved Democratic rules, that would require offsets to pay for the new spending.

It sounds like Kirk wants the Dems to play by their own rules.

 

[Iriemon]

It sounds like Kirk wants the Democrats to play by their own rules.

Funny we didn't hear about Kirk doing this for the past 6 years. Republican pork spending is OK.

 

[Zyphlin]

That's because the rule that Kirk is trying to enforce was recently passed by the Democrats it seems, and now they're just circumventing it.

 

[LaMidRighter]

That's because the rule that Kirk is trying to enforce was recently passed by the Democrats it seems, and now they're just circumventing it.

New Congress, same abuses it seems. I'm just waiting to see how people will spin the new pork earmarks that Democrats promised won't happen under their charge.

 

[Iriemon]

That's because the rule that Kirk is trying to enforce was recently passed by the Democrats it seems, and now they're just circumventing it.

Was a pay-go type rule adopted or passed? I have not heard that. It should be.

 

[Ikari]

Are we really surprised by this? The Republicans and Democrats act in the same exact way, and they both do these same exact things. We have no control over Congress, or the Executive, or the Judicial; and this is what we get for losing our control. The Republocrats will not act for us anymore, other then crappy little hand outs they try to get us to eat out of their hand with. They will only listen to those whom have the money, and they will only act to proliferate their own power even at the expense of our liberty.

This is the problem with supporting the status quo.

 

[Iriemon]

Are we really surprised by this? The Republicans and Democrats act in the same exact way, and they both do these same exact things. We have no control over Congress, or the Executive, or the Judicial; and this is what we get for losing our control. The Republocrats will not act for us anymore, other then crappy little hand outs they try to get us to eat out of their hand with. They will only listen to those whom have the money, and they will only act to proliferate their own power even at the expense of our liberty.

This is the problem with supporting the status quo.

I disagree with the way you put it. We were offered very clear choices and options. In 2000 we were given the option of staying the course, the status quo, and policies which had eliminated the deficits, created surpluses and was paying down the debt; or a change to a party that promised to slash taxes. It is true the leader of that party lied and said his tax cuts would not create deficits -- but that was the choice.

The voters made their choice, and we, the the pass the buck generation, again chose the convenience of lower taxes over responsbile fiscal government, and chose a government that has in 6 years put the country $3 trillion more in debt.

We have no one to blame for that but the Republicans who supported these policies.

 

[Ikari]

Because of the way the system has been rigged by the Republocrats, we see only two "options". But the actual difference between the two major parties is very little. Both sides engage in pork spending, and we shouldn't expect that swapping one for the other is going to solve that. So long as there is no threat to the power base of the major parties, they will have no incentive to change. If they can always keep the country split 50/50 plus noise, they know that they will remain in power so there is no real control over the process by the people. The parties will just keep telling us why the other is so bad that we have no choice but to vote for them. This is easily seen in the many past elections we have had of late. The choices put before the people have not been the most competent or the best qualified, and thus we are left arguing for which one is worse than the other.

So long as we are in that regime, there will be no real change. So the Dems take over telling us all the good things that they are do and then when in power they engage in the same sort of behavior the Republicans did before them. Status quo, the support of the status quo is the continued support of the Republocrats. If you want real change and accountability, you have to put the fear of the people into government. You have to threaten their delicate 50/50 + noise balance they play on the people.

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."
- Thomas Jefferson

 

[Blakestyle]

http://www.examiner.com/a-691052%7EEarmark_stench_is_getting_worse.html?cid=all-hp-featured_editorial] Earmark Stench is Getting Worse

Remember right after the November elections when the Senate’s longtime “King of Pork,” Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., promised an “earmark moratorium” on 2007 spending? The moratorium was supposed to give the new Democratic majority time to pass the promised legislation that would shine needed light on the thousands of anonymous spending measures slipped into bills by senators and congressmen. Since Byrd was about to become Appropriations Committee chairman and was well-known for directing billions of dollars in earmarks to his home state, the moratorium was seen by many congressional reformers as an encouraging sign.

Now we find that not only has the moratorium on 2007 spending bill earmarks been forgotten, senators are in the process of larding up 2008 bills as well. Both the Senate and the House have passed earmark reforms, but the Democratic leadership in both chambers is taking its time in resolving differences between the two measures. So the rules Kratz reminds senators to follow are the same ones that were in place when the GOP sowed its culture of corruption. The more things change, the more they stay the same.