Because Republicans were so awful when it came to earmarks, they are not exactly in the best position to cry foul when the Democrats do it. Porkbarrel spending is a bipartisan game - probably the only thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on. And, as John Fund writes, the Congressional Research Service is making it easier to do.
Nothing highlighted Congress's spending problem in last year's election more than earmarks, the special projects like Alaska's "Bridge to Nowhere" that members drop into last-minute conference reports leaving no opportunity to debate or amend them. Voters opted for change in Congress, but on earmarks it looks as if they'll only be getting more smoke and mirrors.I'm still amazed that with the vast historical record of government corruption and ineptitude, from earmarks to bribes to Katrina to Walter Reed to decrepit public school and on and on, people still think the solutions to our problems lie in bigger, more expensive government that controls even more of our lives. I have to think that an effective communicator can convince the American people by connecting all these dots to show that our lives will be better when WE have more control over them, not the government.Democrats promised reform and instituted "a moratorium" on all earmarks until the system was cleaned up. Now the appropriations committees are privately accepting pork-barrel requests again. But curiously, the scorekeeper on earmarks, the Library of Congress's Congressional Research Service (CRS)--a publicly funded, nonpartisan federal agency--has suddenly announced it will no longer respond to requests from members of Congress on the size, number or background of earmarks. "They claim it'll be transparent, but they're taking away the very data that lets us know what's really happening," says Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn. "I'm convinced the appropriations committees are flexing their muscles with CRS."
The Dems. were supposed to be changing that. I guess they haven't gotten to that ... yet!
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Posted by: KYJurisDoctor at March 28, 2007 07:26 PM
