NOW, Obama wants to reign in spending - will he veto 9,000 earmarks?
After the last couple of days of listening to Obama, you'd get that impression with that Fiscal Responsibility Summit on Monday and last night's speech. But, as with all things Obama, there is seemingly always an expiration date. This one, not so much (dodge: "well, this is left over business from Bush!).
$410 Billion Omnibus spending. 8.5% over last year (well over the rate of inflation). 9,000 or so earmarks (40% of them Republican - YUCK!).
From a tweet from Styx1972, got a link to here which led to TaxPayers for Common Sense which has ALL of the earmarks listed by Department. Well, I decided to take a look to see what my Congress Critters decided to earmark (it took a while the formats between the House & Senate versions were different; I make no claim that I have the absolute full list - after all, there's a LOT of hidden stuff in those bills).
Grand Totals:
- Gregg $35,463,00
- Hodes $1,945,000
- Shea-Porter $48,341,000
- Shaheen $0
- Sununu $23,035,00
Note: Gregg, Shea-Porter, & Sununu participated in "group" earmarks, some of which were large. These were:
- Gregg $24,606,000 Reading is Fundamental for literacy activities
- Shea-Porter $35,000,000 Civic Education Program (Education for Democracy)
- Sununu: $20,660,000 Portsmouth Shipyard (along with Gregg, Snowe, Collins)
Restated Grand Totals:
- Gregg $10,857,000
- Hodes $1,945,000
- Shea-Porter $13,341,000
- Sununu $2,375,00
There were also a number of earmarks that had "no trace" - no one person responsible. I also saw that the President can also ask for earmarks! (Click here for all that I could pick off).
So, can Obama back up his words? Can he use some of that vaunted courage and stand up to his own Party?
BTW, has anyone watched any of the hearings concerning this bill's makeup? Have we heard all the pros and cons in the press? From the pundits? After all, it JUST got introduced into the House TODAY (and got PASSED by the House TODAY 245-178 with 16 Republicans deciding that Big Government should get a bigger raise than you should).
