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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
More handwringing over earmarks... really?With the recent passage of the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Conference
Report and signing of same by President Obama comes the usual hand-wringing over the "crush" of earmarking within the bill. The criticism bears a reality check... and we will keep it simple.
First, the $626
billion bill includes roughly 1,000 Member earmarks totaling about $4 billion... As it is the President that "proposes" spending
and the Congress that "disposes" same, it seems to DSJ that a a tweak to the request of scarcely more than half
of one percent is pretty close to a rubber stamp. Wanna critique it? Maybe a better argument could
be made that the Congress -- and the legions of professional staff members including dozens of retired military types -- is
derelict in its responsibility to study, scrutinize, and amend the Administration's request.
Second, it
must be stated that this year's bill, like last year's bill, is marked by an unprecedented level of transparency with regard
to earmarks. Every Member's website, by directive, lists all requests made, with the recipient identified and with the
Member swearing blood oath that neither they, nor their family stand to gain in any way from the plus-up. The Report
itself, further, contains the "DNA" for each and every earmark, a litany that runs nearly 100 pages.
Lastly, Congressional earmarks are down... some 14% in this year's bill... and the increased transparency has seemingly
eliminated many, but not all, of the most egregious, non-defense related pork. (The Wall Street Journal notes that
among the earmarks in the bill: $18.9 million for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the Senate sponsored by Sen. John Kerry
(D-MA); a $23 million item for the Hawaii Healthcare Network, sponsored by Senate appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI);
a $20 million appropriation for the National World War II museum in New Orleans, by Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu and Republican
Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana; and $5 million for a Heritage Center at San Francisco's historic Presidio, an item included
by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in her "community funding requests.")
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