Democrats hide pet projects from voters

Binary_Digit · 06-03-07, 07:46 AM

WASHINGTON - After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

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.

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.

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

Democrats hide pet projects from voters - Yahoo! News

Aren't we sick of being bent over by these crooks yet? Aren't we ready for a 3rd party yet?

chevydriver1123 · 06-03-07, 10:17 AM

While the third party sounds like a great idea since both parties have failed the election system is stacked against them. The Republicans and Democrats tweek the election rules ever so slightly so only they have the power on the national stage. Although I have read that the three major third parties (Libertarian, Green and Constitution) do make significant gains at the local level.

bhkad · 06-03-07, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Binary_Digit

WASHINGTON - After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

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.

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.

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

Democrats hide pet projects from voters - Yahoo! News

Aren't we sick of being bent over by these crooks yet? Aren't we ready for a 3rd party yet?

Nope, not at all. The GOP will do just fine.

RightinNYC · 06-03-07, 02:51 PM

Quote:

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open. Those rules made it clear that projects earmarked for federal dollars and their sponsors were to be made available to public scrutiny when appropriations bills are debated.

The rules also require lawmakers requesting such projects to provide a written explanation describing their requests and a letter certifying that they or their spouse would not make any financial gain from them.

This is absolutely ridiculous. Not only are the dems not following the rules they promised to implement, they're actually making it worse than under the GOP.

So how about it? All those of you who supported the Dems in 06 because you said you wanted a change from the Republicans. Let's see what they've done:

1) Failed to pass the majority of their "100 hours" platform at all
2) Completely backed down on their promises over the war
3) Have completely reversed course on special interest funding, earmarks, house rules, etc.

Why the hell were they elected again?

The silenced majority · 06-03-07, 03:33 PM

What do you expecct from a political party that has completely embraced the concept that government is the tool to prefect society & that they are totally inept unless they are in power?

Obviously they're going to do whatever they can to get elected even if down the road it entails an outright abandonment of their campaign promises. Of course what do you expect from a bunch who claim to "love America" yet are committed to changing everything about it?

Decpetion is as deception does.

danarhea · 06-03-07, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Binary_Digit

WASHINGTON - After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress' pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.

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.

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.

What Obey is doing runs counter to new rules that Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open.

Democrats hide pet projects from voters - Yahoo! News

Aren't we sick of being bent over by these crooks yet? Aren't we ready for a 3rd party yet?

Yup, the culture of corruption is not just Republican, and Dems have just proved it.

Kasmos · 06-03-07, 04:58 PM

The Democrats again prove to me that there are very few honest, good for America politicians out there nowadays. The same goes for as well. bhkad, you say the GOP will do fine, and I know your reasons behind saying that, but I disagree. I think we need a breath of fresh air, someone willing to go against the "norm" of their party and steer our country in a new direction. Whether they be Republican or Democrat or Independent, it doesn't matter to me, as long as we diverse from this horrendous path the Dems and Reps have taken us down.

RightinNYC · 06-03-07, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kasmos

The Democrats again prove to me that there are very few honest, good for America politicians out there nowadays. The same goes for as well. bhkad, you say the GOP will do fine, and I know your reasons behind saying that, but I disagree. I think we need a breath of fresh air, someone willing to go against the "norm" of their party and steer our country in a new direction. Whether they be Republican or Democrat or Independent, it doesn't matter to me, as long as we diverse from this horrendous path the Dems and Reps have taken us down.

The Official Site of Mike Bloomberg | Mike Bloomberg