Democrats Hiding Earmarks in Upcoming Bills

When the Democrats ran for congress last year, they promised to be an open congress and end earmarks in bills. It appears as though they are not quite living up to this promise.

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, 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.

Let’s face it, all politicians love earmark spending, bringing money home to their constituents. But the funny thing here is that the Democrats are skirting around their own rule.

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.

This rule they enacted on their first day in congress to show us how ethical they will be, it doesn’t seem ethical to hide the earmarks until it is to late to remove them to me.

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.

As a result of this back alley maneuvering the Democrats have not made congressional spending more open, in fact they have, in effect, snuck in and closed the door behind them.