N
Nathan
Guest
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_on_go_co/congress_pet_projects
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 22 minutes ago
After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel
practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw
up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.
Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in
January to clearly identify "earmarks" - lawmakers' requests for specific
projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in
legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the
House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such
earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.
Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., says those requests for
dams, community grants and research contracts for favored universities or
hospitals will be added to spending measures in the fall. That is when House
and Senate negotiators assemble final bills.
Such requests total billions of dollars.
As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific
projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various
agencies get their first votes in the full House in June.
The House-Senate compromise bills due for final action in September cannot
be amended and are subject to only one hour of debate, precluding challenges
to individual projects.
Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations
Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the
36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.
What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would
make such spending decisions more open.
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 22 minutes ago
After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel
practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw
up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.
Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in
January to clearly identify "earmarks" - lawmakers' requests for specific
projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in
legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the
House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such
earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.
Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., says those requests for
dams, community grants and research contracts for favored universities or
hospitals will be added to spending measures in the fall. That is when House
and Senate negotiators assemble final bills.
Such requests total billions of dollars.
As a result, most lawmakers will not get a chance to oppose specific
projects as wasteful or questionable when the spending bills for various
agencies get their first votes in the full House in June.
The House-Senate compromise bills due for final action in September cannot
be amended and are subject to only one hour of debate, precluding challenges
to individual projects.
Obey insists he is reluctantly taking the step because Appropriations
Committee members and staff have not had enough time to fully review the
36,000 earmark requests that have flooded the committee.
What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would
make such spending decisions more open.