Redstate

Posted at 10:33am on Jan. 3, 2008 Earmark Fight Puts Bush's Legacy on the Line

Cancel Lawmakers' Pork Projects With Executive Order

By Bluey

RedState's Moe Lane yesterday called readers' attention to the growing concerns among fiscal conservatives that President Bush might bow to pressure from Capitol Hill appropriators and back away from a fight over earmarks. I echo the fears expressed by Moe, Captain Ed and other conservatives; the time is critical for Bush to issue an executive order canceling earmarks.

The president's tough talk about pork-barrel spending in the wake of the mammoth omnibus was a great boost for fiscal conservatives, but it also angered many earmark-loving lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including several Republicans. They would prefer Bush send Congress a rescission package, which would amount to a complete capitulation to Washington's big spenders.

Republicans can no longer just talk a good game of fiscal restraint; it's time to back it up with action. Take the Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, who was among the first to boast about the earmarks he secured for Kentucky. His rhetoric about "protecting their wallets and spending their money wisely" was ridiculed by Louisville columnist David Hawpe, who saw through McConnell's doublespeak. Bush can expect the same kind of treatment if his words turn out to be hollow.

With so much media attention on the 2008 race, it would be easy for the president to back away from a confrontation. But to do so would cement his legacy as a big-government conservative. Instead, Bush has the opportunity to make a lasting impact on Washington by shutting down the favor factory and putting a stop to the corrupting influence of earmarks.

Posted in Congress | Earmarks | Mitch McConnell | omnibus bills | President Bush | The White House — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:40pm on Dec. 21, 2007 Conservatives, Candidates Call on Bush to End Earmarks

Does the president have the guts to shut down the favor factory?

By Bluey

President Bush's suggestion yesterday that he would cancel lawmakers' pork-barrel projects has prompted a backlash from appropriators on Capitol Hill. Sources tell me that even the Christmas holiday hasn't tempered the anger of earmark-loving lawmakers who are aggressively lobbying Bush to reconsider.

With opposition mounting to Bush's idea, fiscal conservatives made sure they didn't stand by silently. This afternoon a coalition of government watchdogs released a letter asking Bush to issue an executive order directing all federal agencies to ignore non-legislative earmarks. The letter followed a policy paper by my colleague Brian Riedl of the Heritage Foundation outlining three specific steps Bush could take: canceling non-binding earmarks by executive order, refusing to implement earmarks that are not sufficiently specific, and banning "phone-marking."

The earmark debate has also caught fire on the campaign trail. Mitt Romney today called on Bush to "eliminate as many of these earmarks as possible." He added:

Change in Washington begins when we change the culture that allows earmarks, pet projects and wasteful spending to thrive in the place of being good fiscal stewards of the taxpayers' money.

Romney's statement comes just days after rival Rudy Giuliani released an ad condemning earmarks.

Of course, this issue is nothing new for Sen. John McCain, who has railed against earmarks and pork-barrel projects for years. It's refreshing to see McCain's adversaries joining him. Even though McCain missed the vote on the $555-billion omnibus, he made his views crystal clear on the Senate floor earlier in the week:

When we ram through a gigantic bill, spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer's dollars with little or no debate because we want to go home for Christmas, we send the message to the American people that we are not serious enough about our jobs. ... We are sending the signal that it is more important for us to be able to issue press releases, and I am sure hundreds of them will be going out today, about how much pork we have been able to get for our states and districts, than we are about good government and fiscal responsibility. How can we, in good conscience, defend this behavior to the American people?

Bush has the backing the conservative base and now a handful of presidential candidates. But does he have the courage to shut down the favor factory?

Posted in Congress | Congress | Earmarks | omnibus bills | President Bush — Comments (19)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 5:57pm on Dec. 18, 2007 All I Want for Christmas Is a Continuing Resolution

By Bluey

House Republican Whip Roy Blunt with the 3,417-page omnibus. (Andrew Blasko)

Two weeks ago Sen. Jim DeMint outlined the end-game strategy Republicans in Congress should use when confronting 11 of the 12 unfinished spending bills and troop funding legislation. DeMint's idea wasn't revolutionary, but for anyone who cares about limiting the growth of government, it made perfect sense: forget the omnibus and pass a continuing resolution at this year's spending levels.

DeMint's idea would give conservatives a cause to rally around as Democrats negotiated the details of a mammoth omnibus bill. Unfortunately, the senator's own leadership decided it would rather bask in a few day's worth of bad headlines for Democrats instead of standing strong on principle. Republicans may be gloating today, but they should be ashamed if they support this atrocious omnibus.

It's hard to understand why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was so shortsighted. In exchange for giving up his coveted earmarks, McConnell could have held the growth of government to 2% next year. Instead, it will increase between 4% to 5% under the omnibus. Even House Minority Leader Roy Blunt admitted today during a lunch with conservative bloggers that a continuing resolution would have been catastrophic for the Democrats in comparison to the omnibus.

During the same briefing with bloggers, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) seemed downright frustrated by his leadership's willingness to sign off on a bad bill. Short of keeping senators and staffs in the Capitol through Christmas, Coburn admitted there was little that could be done to stop the legislation.

As the Senate moves closer to voting on the half-trillion-dollar package, conservatives are making a final plea to slow down the process. The American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste and Club for Growth have all voiced opposition to the omnibus. Senators like Coburn and DeMint will need all the support they can get with McConnell and other GOP leaders pressuring them to back off this fight.

For as frustrating as it is to watch McConnell roll over, what's even more disappointing is that President Bush is willing to sign a bill (assuming troop funding for Iraq is added) that violates so many of the principles he's been fighting for all year. The bill is nearly $20 billion more than Bush's top-line number when “emergencies” are factored in and comes nowhere close to slashing pork projects in half.

Just last week Bush signaled his willingness to accept a continuing resolution, as DeMint had suggested. But as the negative headlines continued to pop up over the weekend and into yesterday, even the White House toned down its rhetoric, claiming, for example, the explosion of earmarks in the bill wouldn't trigger a veto.

With a vote taking place in a few hours, there's little that can be done in the short term other than educating members of Congress about the deeply flawed provisions in the legislation. Unfortunately, it might take a Christmas miracle to open their eyes to this flawed bill.

Posted in Congress | Congress | Mitch McConnell | omnibus bills — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:13pm on Dec. 17, 2007 Massive Spending Bill Bad for Taxpayers

By Congressman Jeb Hensarling

Late last night, Democrats released a massive 3,565-page FY 2008 Omnibus Appropriations bill (which means that 11 spending bills have been combined to form one massive bill) that is expected to be voted on later today. This means that members will not even have the ability to read the bill before knowing what they are voting on. This is hardly the way to do business if spending accountability is a priority.

After spending all night trying to review this enormous bill, I can say that this legislation is a bad for deal for American taxpayers, American families and the fiscal future of our children. Unfortunately, Democrats squandered an opportunity to work together on a clean bill that is free of wasteful earmarks and budget gimmicks.

Just three years ago, then Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the refusal to allow Members three days to read legislation before voting on it ‘martial law.’ Abandoning her word, Speaker Pelosi is now engaging in ‘martial law’ herself by trying to forcing this bill through Congress before anyone knows exactly what is in it. What could they be hiding?

Earmarks? Check.

Please read on...

Posted in Congress | Democrats | Earmarks | funding | omnibus bills — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Read More »