Omnibus Pork, Your Representative

Democrats have no excuse at all. They are in control of the bill. Period. Republicans however, appear to have tried to outdo Democrats in hypocrisy. Republicans like Mitch McConnel and Eric Cantor loaded up the bill with their own pork spending projects, then proceeded to rail against the bill as containing too much wasteful pork pet spending projects including 10's of millions of their own. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, when they saw that the Omnibus bill would pass without their votes, they voted against it, and immediately began to tell their marketing folks to be sure to let their constituents know how much pet project federal money they were bringing home to their district, proud of having served their communities in this pork laden fashion.

The Wichita Eagle's 'We Blog' has this to report on Republican earmarks:

Six Republicans are among the top 10 biggest Senate earmarkers based on total dollar value, according to a database released Monday [MS Excel needed to view] by Taxpayers for Common Sense. Topping the list of all senators was Thad Cochran, R-Miss., who by himself and with other lawmakers earmarked nearly $471 million worth of spending. Kansas GOP Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts ranked 62nd and 63rd, with earmarks worth $47.7 million and $46.7 million, respectively.

To his credit, Sen. John McCain, the loudest voice on killing this Omnibus bill due to the billions in pork spending, authored no pork projects in this bill. It is obvious from his rhetoric and campaign pledges what would have happened had he been elected president to face this pork ridden appropriations bill. He would have vetoed it, shutting down much of the federal government in the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Some would argue, good, some disaster. That is another topic altogether.

Pres. Obama has been lambasted for not keeping Sen. John McCain's campaign promise. It was Sen. McCain who vowed to veto pork spending and earmarks in the budget bills, not then, Sen. Obama. Sen. Obama vowed, if he was elected president, to go line by line looking for wasteful spending to remove from his budgets. He also vowed to promote rules that would help curtail wasteful spending. Sen. Obama never promised to eliminate earmarks, only wasteful spending. Not all earmarks are wasteful as anyone knows who follows the ins and outs of how appropriations are made to the various agencies of the federal government.

In addition, this was not Obama's budget. This was the appropriations bill left unpassed from former Pres. Bush's budget proposal. Technically, many folks will hate this point, Pres. Obama is not violating his promise to cut wasteful spending from 'his' administration's budget proposals. Nonetheless, this is government spending, it contains wasteful spending by a couple billion dollars depending on how one defines wasteful. And Pres. Obama will sign this last year's appropriations bill, wasteful spending and all. To some, that has all the appearances of violating Sen. McCain's campaign promise. So be it.

At nearly the same time the Pres. Obama indicated he would sign the Omnibus bill, he also put forth a detailed prescription for budgets going forward to prevent Congress from loading up on wasteful pork spending in Obama's budget proposals. It reads like a teacher's list of rules of don'ts, with the threat of being forced to stay after school if the student does. How effective his prescription for Congress will be remains to be seen, but already, there are those like Rep. King of N.Y. (R) , who went on TV this last week to defend the earmark process and his millions in earmarks and to express opposition to any efforts by the President to restrict his earmark rights.

For all the broohaha! over this Omnibus bill and Pres. Obama's refusal to veto it, one thing is nearly certain. It will all be forgotten in the pages of history if, at the end of Obama's term, he has successfully reduced the bulk of wasteful spending from the budgets as promised, compared to previous administration's.

Voter's, especially VOID voters, have two responsibilities going forward on this topic. Review their own House and Senate representative's record on wasteful spending, and hold them accountable in 2010, and hold Pres. Obama accountable in 2012 to his campaign pledge to greatly reduce wasteful spending in our federal government's budgeting and spending process.

By David R. Remer
Published: March 12, 2009 2:53 PM
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