| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Fred Stone" |
| Date: |
16 Jan 2008 10:36:13 AM |
| Object: |
Congress whining over Bush plan to stymie earmarxists |
http://tinyurl.com/25g8wk
Bush earmarks plan roils Dems, fractures GOP
By Kevin Bogardus and Manu Raju
Posted: 01/15/08 06:38 PM [ET]
The leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee are calling on
President Bush to back away from threats to kill funding for lawmakers’
pet projects.
The pre-emptive warnings from the top Democrat and Republican on the
panel are the clearest signs yet that President Bush could face a
bipartisan backlash if he uses his executive authority to wipe out the
more than $7 billion in earmarks.
Bush signed the fiscal 2008 spending legislation into law shortly after
Christmas Day, but has indicated he might direct officials at federal
agencies to ignore the nearly 9,000 member projects written in the bill’s
report language.
The executive order would generate enormous support from fiscal hawks,
but would roil already poor relations between the White House and the
Democratic Congress — not to mention infuriate many Republicans touting
the projects to their constituents.
Earmarks take on an added importance during election years because
lawmakers want to show voters they can bring federal money back home.
A spokesman for Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.)
accused the Bush administration of hypocrisy for considering an executive
order telling federal agencies to ignore earmarks since no such order was
issued during Republican control of Congress. The executive order would
affect all earmarks included in report language that accompanies the
appropriations bill.
“It is hypocritical that President Bush is considering issuing an
executive order on a spending bill passed by a Democratic Congress with
bipartisan support while failing to do so with spending bills passed by
Republican Congresses in the past,” said Jesse Jacobs, a Byrd spokesman.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is
largely a waste of time.
H. L. Mencken
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