No more “monuments to me”
So, President Bush will praise Nancy Pelosi tonight in his State of the Union address for her cooperation on the economic stimulus farce. Ain’t bipartisanship grand?
On a less depressing note, GOP House leader John Boehner sends out a press release today pushing Pelosi and the Dems on earmarks:
WASHINGTON, DC – House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement reacting to news that President Bush will use his State of the Union speech to announce he will veto any FY 2009 spending bills that do not cut taxpayer-funded earmarks in half from FY 2008 levels:
“The earmark process has become a symbol of a broken Washington. House Republicans applaud the President’s pledge to veto bills that do not significantly slash earmarks and provide appropriate transparency in spending. However, we believe Congress should go even further, by adopting an immediate moratorium on all earmarks and establishing a panel to determine ways to end wasteful pork-barrel spending. It’s our sincere hope that Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Majority will join us by the end of this week in supporting these urgently needed reforms so Congress can begin restoring trust between the American people and their elected leaders.”
NOTE: Last Friday, House Republican leaders sent Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a letter calling on her to join House Republicans in endorsing an immediate moratorium on earmarks and to appoint a bipartisan, bicameral joint committee to reform the earmark process and eliminate wasteful spending. The GOP leaders asked Speaker Pelosi to respond to the request by February 1, 2008 – the end of the House Democratic Caucus retreat. In the letter, House Republicans also outlined a series of earmark reform standards they will adopt immediately, including:
No more “monuments to me.” Lawmakers should not use taxpayer money to fund projects named after themselves.
No more “airdrops.” The process by which Congress spends the American people’s money should be completely transparent. Members of Congress should not circumvent transparency by airdropping earmarks into bills in conference at the last minute.
No “fronts” (no pass-through entities). Taxpayer funds should not be laundered through “front” operations that mask their true recipients.
Members of Congress who request earmarks should put forth a plan detailing exactly how the money will be spent and why they believe the use of taxpayer funding is justified. Members of Congress who “secure” earmarks should place these plans in the Congressional Record well in advance of floor votes on those earmarks.
To improve accountability, Members of Congress should require outside earmark recipients to put up “matching funds” where applicable so that American taxpayers do not bear all the risk for such expenditures.
The Executive Branch should be held accountable for its own earmark practices. The Executive Branch asks for earmarks, too, and has done so under administrations Democratic and Republican alike. Members of Congress should hold present and future Administrations accountable for the way in which taxpayer-funded earmarks are used.
“No more ‘monuments to me.’”
I like that. It belongs on a bumper sticker. Or on a stamp on the foreheads of every politician in Washington.
***
Background: San Fran Nan’s waterfront earmark.
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Sounds like the Oscars where they pat each other on the back and give great accolades for the crap they put out in the movie industry. barf.
I like that a LOT. I wish we could hear more politicians talk that way.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any that “get it”.
No more “monuments to me.”
Never happen.
I no longer know the President I worked so hard to help re-elect.
And to praise Nancy Pelosi, that piece of work? Has he gone mad? First opportunity she gets she’ll stab Bush in the back, something Bush should know by now considering all the stab wounds he already has between his shoulders from his Democrat “friends”.
I like it too. Let’s hope something comes of it. Boehner holds the line like no other. Great work. The good folks of Ohio should be proud.
I can’t believe any of those procedures are even legal now, much less that elbows need to be twisted to get the practices to stop.
Stamps wear off, Michelle. I make the motion for it to be tattoed on their foreheads.
Too bad most members of Congress won’t go for responsible spending. After all they just want to bring home the bacon to their home districts in an attempt to bribe each of us with our own money. Just imagine how much the deficit would shrink if the lying crapweasels would go on a fiscal diet.
“No more monuments to me”
I’ll believe it when I see it - or rather, when I don’t see any “monuments to me”.
Almost all of these politicians have egos that couldn’t fit inside the orbit of Jupiter. And when they get to spend money that’s not theirs, their largesse literally knows no bounds…
I still want to see the line item veto made law. And for a President to actually use it, as well as ordinary vetos.
Nancy Pelosi what a TOOL. I remember when Then Rep Harold Ford Jr., wanted to run for the majority leader in the house, and he was told patronizingly: You are young and ambitious, you will get your turn. Sound familar? Isn’t this the message to Barrack Obama “Old white women first”
Yeah you have come along way baby “Me First, Me First”
I would be glad for Boehner to block earmarks. But anyone with a memory that goes back more than two years knows that Republicans taking a principled stand now against earmarks is pure hypocrisy.
Branded, Barry.
With a hot branding iron.
So it will be seared into their memory.
#7 BarryF.
Should it be over, or under, the three 6’s on their forehead?
Agreed, JHSII.
Okay. I withdraw my motion for tattoing and second the new motion for branding.
Nothing like losing an election to give you religion. Sure can’t say that about the Democrats, though. They have principles. They kept their noses right in there, even after they lost Congress.
Oh, so I suppose Republicans “invented” earmarks? Take you memory back a few more years lgm. Who is the king of earmakrs? Murtha(R)? Who (with the most ethical Congress evah) was going to stop the earmark programs that the Republicans let get out of control? I seem to remember Regan screaming for the line item veto.
Get a memory, come back and try again.
It might be something else, but it’s not hypocrisy. Merriam-Webster defines hypocrisy as a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not; especially : the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion
If the Republicans take a stand against earmarks while continuing to insert them into bills, that would be hypocritical.
I have said here before on the earmark situation that there should be rules or whatever it takes to make it happen that stipulate:
In other words … if it is a highway bill any amendments must relate to highways … if it is military funding any amendments must relate to the military … etc., etc., etc. …
No Exceptions
Give us that along with a line item veto as a last barrier to wasteful spending and we could probably eliminate the national debt in a lot less time than the way it is going now.
to bad they didn’t attempt this when they had ‘control’ of both houses. where was this thinking? oh, it was before they lost everything in 2006.
it is one thing to say you are tough on spending, but when you had a chance to stop it you were right in there voting for the spending. mccain could get the gang of 14 together for/against judges but he couldn’t manage to ’stop’ the spending.
don’t believe that it. he was not shouting about spending. he was right in there with the porkers.
we are in for a big fight, we need to make sure that our candidate for the 08 will be strong on security and that this includes the border.
While I like this idea, it won’t help much.
These items are a drop in the bucket of government spending. If they don’t fix the entitlement mess, the rest is meaningless.
I’m suprised they have’nt renamed West Virginia, The Great State of Robert Byrd.
They should have taken this stand along time ago. But I guess better late than never. I agree the POTUS need’s the line item veto and this is why they have worked so hard to keep POTUS from getting it, PORK plain and simple.
So you want a line-item veto to rein in irresponsible Congressional spending?
Prod your State Legislature or Assembly to vote for an Article 5 Convention to propose the necessary Constitutional amendment to the States.
Of course a Citizenship, Naturalization and Immigration Amendment is needed too.
But, but Dubya will clamp down on earmarks in the NEXT budget cycle.
What I don’t understand is why there is any perceived necessity for stimulating economy. The numbers have not pointed to any big recession at this time.
I guess Bush is from the McCain school of compromise that bends over for Fat Teddy’s liberal agenda.
If you want to stimulate things why not cut out the bureaucracy and just vouchers for new homes and new American cars for the “needy”? That would stimulate home builders and car makers. Why not just run the printing presses and give huge checks to everyone, thus making us all millionaires? It worked in post world war I Germany so well.
I understand there will be an Executive Order to this effect. I grant you it’s too little too late but it is a step in the right direction.
Bush can praise Peolsi bla bla bla. But he is forcing her hand and everybody else in Congress to stand up and be counted on earmarks. They have to legislate out the Executive Order or face a veto and feel the wrath of voters as they pork up spending bills.
It might actually be a little “gotcha” on the way out to both sides of the Congressional aisle.
As mentioned in 7, 12, and 14 comments above, we need some outward indicator we can recognize on our politicians so when seeing one of them, even years from now, will know they are one of many who spent our money for their personal interests and continued to exploit us while in office and everyday single of their retirement.
Earmarks have been around for a long time, but they exploded in the period 2000 - 2006. Earmarks in this congress are dramatically lower than they were in the last congress. It’s not perfect but it’s progress.
Republicans probably will stick with earmark reform like they stuck with paygo (you can’t increase spending somewhere without paying for it by cutting somewhere else or raising taxes). It was great for Democrats, but they dropped it in the first five minutes of the Bush administration and proceeded to have the biggest deficit-fest in the history of the world.
So Bush is demanding fiscal responsibility, eh?
Well, I guess 1 year of 8 is better than 0 years of 8.
Try again lgm. Placing 500 billion in earmarks then volunteering to remove 250 billion is NOT a 50% reduction.
I think it is some of that “fuzzy math” the NEA and the like are pushing for kids in the public schools now, Soap.
LOL Barry. lgm is a math teacher (at least according to his site) and he cannot figure out simple math let alone fuzzy math.
katieanne said:
Politics make strange bed-fellows, and Pelosi is the #1 who-, er uh, bed operator right now that everyone must, mmm, shall we say satisfy to get anything done. So if he must stroke her ego to get this anywhere (I wouldn’t bet a nickel on it), it’s a small price to pay.
Well, there you go.
From Sundays Parade Magazine:
The omnibus spending bill included:
Not to mention the olive fruit fly and fish-waste research, but awning renovations?
Is there somewhere we can see where this money actually went. Do the American taxpayers get to see where the bills were paid and what exactly for. Does anyone know?
On-my-soap-box said (#28):
lgm was not the source of these numbers. I googled for the actual numbers and found one source that said:
Two interesting here: (1) earmarking did go down under Democrats, though not as far as we would like (i.e. to zero). (2) Even the biggest Republican year has only $29B. That is small potatoes compared to what they’re wasting on star wars (totally useless), Iraq (largely useless).
lgm. Run those numbers through the (R) / (D) sieve and compare. You are taking administrations into account and we all know how you love to bash the current admin (and there is plenty of reason to, just not so much on earmarks.) This current Congress is Dem controlled and I think you will find that pork is something the Dems have added to the “new menu” in abundance.
Unless you are a female in Iraq. Something liberals have a hard time wrapping their minds around is freedom (unless it is for law breakers in this country). Also something liberals have a hard time with: When Slick Willy was in office, it was the Dimocraps who were screaming the loudest about WMD’S in IRAQ.
I will give you this much, this is the best debate you and I have had. You keep trying and I like it. Also, you have yet to start a post with “MM said…, (followed by some smart arse remark)”. I like it.
lgm, I’m sure there is a lot of waste with star wars just as there is with any big government funded project, but calling it “totally useless” is a bit much. Have you been following the news about Pakistan lately? How about Iran, North Korea, or China? Or this from Russia:
It is not if, but when a rogue nuclear missle will be launched against us. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could shoot it down? How much is a major US city worth? How much is YOUR city worth?