Kyle Trygstad – Fri Mar 13, 3:19 pm ET


Republican Earmarks Taint Spending Criticism

While Republicans criticize President Obama for not sticking to a campaign promise to rid government of wasteful spending, the GOP itself is finding trouble getting back to the kind of fiscal discipline its members say disappeared over the last several years they controlled Congress.

Republicans in Congress vilified Democrats for both the overall size and the number of earmarks attached to the $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill that Obama signed Wednesday. However, despite the rhetoric, Republicans requested 40 percent of the earmarks and ranked among the highest pork barrel spenders.

Six of the 10 senators that requested the most earmark dollars were Republicans, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan budget watchdog group. In the House, Republicans accounted for five of the top 10.

One such Member was Mitch McConnell (Ky.), the Republican Leader in the Senate who raked in $51 million for his state -- good enough for ninth most in the upper chamber. Before voting against the bill Tuesday, however, McConnell railed against what he said was bloated spending and called on Obama to issue his first presidential veto.

"In the midst of a serious economic downturn, the Senate had a chance to show it could impose the same kind of restraint on itself that millions of Americans are being forced to impose on themselves at the moment," McConnell said from the Senate floor.

Following the vote, McConnell issued a press release that simultaneously announced his opposition to what he said was an oversized bill and touted the millions of dollars he personally brought home to Kentucky.

Unlike McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is personally opposed to earmarks and had none in the bill -- as did most of the House GOP leadership -- giving him some political cover in attacking earmarks. The contrast was noticeable Wednesday when the two House and Senate leaders stood beside each other at a press conference, as Boehner blamed the President for signing an earmark-laden omnibus that McConnell and many other Republicans contributed to.

Equally boastful of his earmarks was Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who requested some $2 million more in earmarks than McConnell and likewise voted against the measure. Inhofe, though, was upfront about his feelings on pork barrel spending.

"I want my constituents to be absolutely clear about my position on earmarks," Inhofe said in a press release following the vote. "As long as the current process remains, you can bet I will be working to get every dollar I can for Oklahoma."

On the House side, Boehner led the charge against the omnibus, calling for a freeze in federal spending and for Obama to veto the bill. Along with other members of the minority leadership, including Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), Boehner ripped the Democrats for pushing a bill that increased spending and included more than 8,000 earmarks at a time of economic crisis.

In the weeks prior to Obama signing the bill, though, the leadership had difficulty answering reporters' questions regarding their own party's contribution to the thousands of earmarks. Asked about it once again at a press conference Thursday, Boehner quickly switched the discussion to Democrats. "Let's remember that 60 percent of the earmarks were the other guys. All right?" he said. "So those that want to try to divide our party, look, the whole process needs to be fixed."

On February 24, Boehner answered by saying he was waiting for a report from a Republican earmark reform task force he created. As The Hill reports, though, no report has yet been published as Republicans have failed to agree on how reformative they want to be. Two members of that panel said they doubt their conference is ready for any kind of reform.

"Had we done something before the omnibus or whether we do something after the omnibus, it doesn't matter much because the omnibus said all that needed to be said about our commitment to earmark reform," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).

Democrats, of course, were responsible for 60 percent of the earmarks in the omnibus, and none were apologizing for it. Since overtaking power in Congress in January 2007, however, the party has implemented more rigorous earmarking guidelines that they say makes the process more transparent. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) noted recently that Democrats reduced the total number of earmarks last year by 43 percent, while earmark totals increased every year Republicans controlled Congress.

Prior to Obama's omnibus signing ceremony and release of his own earmark reform principles, House Democrats announced two new earmark guidelines that add a 20-day executive branch review to the process.

In a press release announcing this, Hoyer indicated the party's stance on earmarks: "Earmarks are part of Congress's power of the purse, which all Americans know as essential to the balance of powers between the branches of government. At the same time, it is critical that Congress be vigilant in spending taxpayers' money. That is why Democrats immediately enacted strong accountability and transparency earmark reforms upon gaining the Majority two years ago. "

As Republicans continue to attempt to get their own house in order, Boehner, Flake and other anti-earmark Republicans -- including Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) -- feel the Democrats' reforms only go so far. "Where is the beef? Where is the reform?" Boehner said Wednesday. "I just don't see it."


Interesting.

you know how it goes, it is only wasteful spending if it is THE OTHER GUYS spending...lol

hit the nail on the head

They are all thieves and need to be thrown out of office.

And then what?

Nice thread winx!

Thank you. I thought that it was interesting, Fanta.

The Republican agenda requires Americans to be blind and uninformed.
They count on it!

Intelligence and well-formed opinions, like you just exhibited, are the ingredients that will insure America stays strong and immune to their power grabbing ambitions!

No problem!

Republicans are hypocrits, and
you know how I feel about intelligent women.

Glenn, have you eyejacked this thread?

actually...it's called a payoff...these same guys were totally against it a week ago...

Then they BECOME the other guys and they call the OTHER guys spending waste....lol

To be fair about Mitch McConnell, here is a list of his "pork", many of which believe is good for Kentucky.



The U.S. Senate late Tuesday, March 10, passed a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill that included a number of earmarks requested by U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell.

Many are calling the Senator a hypocrite, because he has been an avid opponent of earmarks.

Here are some the projects he has secured money for.

$2.945 million for the Transit Authority of Lexington Bus Purchase Project and $950,000 for the Frankfort Transit System Improvement Project.

· $1.632 million for construction of a UK/Agriculture Research Service (ARS) lab.

· $273,000 for the UK Animal Health project and continued funding for UK/ARS Forage-Animal Production Research Unit.

· $525,000 for the UK Crop Diversification Research and Education.

· $452,000 for UK’s Advanced Genetics Technology Center.

· $590,000 for UK’s Health Education Extension Leadership (HEEL) Program.

· $471,000 for UK’s Precision Agriculture Research Unit.

· $951,500 for the University of Kentucky Coal-Derived Low Energy Materials for Sustainable Construction Project.

· $1.903 million for the University of Kentucky to expand the College of Nursing facility.

· $1.427 million for the University of Kentucky to upgrade its lone research MRI instrument.

· $951,000 for the University of Kentucky “HeartHealth” Community Health Management Program.

· $2.854 million for the Center for Advanced Separation Technology.

· $4.55 million for the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research (CPBR).

· $90,000 for the Clark County Sheriff’s Department in Clark County, Kentucky for Mobile Data Units.

· $30,000 for the Menifee County Sheriff’s Department in Menifee County, Kentucky for Technology Equipment.

· $1.35 million for the Estill County Water District for the Estill County Wastewater Treatment Plant Upgrade project.

· $54.55 million for the Wolf Creek Dam Rehabilitation Project.


http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/41244747.html

come on now, cloudy. you know as well as I do the only good way to spend money out of the federal government as far they're concerned is to expand unemployment and welfare..

nevermind that most of the money it looks like Sen McConnell has had directed as his state is going to higher education, helping to keep grad students in money for research and ramen noodles. for shame!!

but it's ok because the other guy does it too..

Does that make it right?