Senate Defeats Effort to Remove Earmarks

From New York Times:

WASHINGTON — In his latest crusade against the process lawmakers use to finance home-state projects known as earmarks, Senator John S. McCain took to the Senate floor this week with an arsenal of numbers, sharply criticizing the $410 billion omnibus spending bill as 2,967 pages of text, teeming with 9,000 earmarks.

But the only numbers that mattered on Tuesday were 63 to 32: the vote by which the Senate defeated Mr. McCain’s amendment to strip the earmarks from the spending measure, which is needed to finance the federal government through September.

While the bill is likely to be approved, the fight over earmarks will not end anytime soon.

The Obama administration and Congressional Democrats, sensitive to accusations that they were allowing earmarks to continue unchecked, are considering ways to adjust the budgeting system, which President Obama has said should be more open and transparent.

“That’s what the White House is working on,” its press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said Tuesday.

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My Comment: While the Democrats represent 60% of earmarks requested .... they are 60% of the Congress.

Sigh .... plague on both parties.

President’s Inner Circle Has Earmarks in Omnibus

From CQ Politics:

Funny how items show up in spending bills without any notice — like an earmark for a president who promised not to seek any.

President Obama, who took a no-earmark pledge on the campaign trail, is listed as one of dozens of cosponsors of a $7.7 million set-aside in the fiscal 2009 omnibus spending bill passed by the House on Wednesday.

But not for long.

On Thursday, Rob Blumenthal, a spokesman for the Senate Appropriations Committee said the one earmark in the bill that carries Obama’s name will be edited. The committee will attribute that earmark to other senators on the list of that provision’s supporters, but not Obama.

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My Comment: If President Obama keeps this up .... he will soon be confronted with a very skeptical and cynical public. Too bad .... his commitment to controlling earmarks always sounded sincere in the many speeches that he has given on the subject.

Reid To Obama: Let Us Keep Earmarks

Photo: Harry Reid and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer had hoped at one point to get as much as $10 million from the Obama campaign. AP/Politico


From Politico:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wants the White House to tread lightly on earmarks, saying that any push by the Obama administration to clamp down on pet projects would be met with strong opposition from congressional leaders.

"We cannot let spending be done by a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats," Reid said, arguing that lawmakers are much more in tune with federal money needs for their states than agencies in Washington.

Reid's comments came as he and Democratic leaders vowed swift action on Obama's agenda.

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My Comment: This is a critical test for President Obama. It will give us a chance to see if he walks the walk .... and talks the talk.

If history is any indication .... he will not walk the walk.