This guy can’t be for real:
Earmark foes are preparing to force a vote that would oblige senators to disclose all campaign contributions connected to their pet projects.
As the battle over the budget heats up, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and other senators are readying an amendment in case Democrats propose an alternative to a Republican-led moratorium on earmarks, as Coburn suspects.
He is waiting for Democrats to show their hand. But no matter what happens, the legislative battle has already divided both parties and pitted Senate leaders against their presidential candidates.
Reid said last year’s ethics law provided “total transparency” of the process by requiring legislation for the first time to specify who the authors of each earmark were.“As we look back in history, the Founding Fathers would be cringing to hear people talking about eliminating earmarks,” Reid said, noting that the Founders dictated in the Constitution that all spending should originate in Congress, not the executive branch.
Wha-wha-what!
The Founding Fathers wanted a system in which politicians could sock away money for their own states in the dark? And here all along I thought the power of appropriations means fully disclosing the spending going on and floor votes on those monies. Guess I was a silly fool.
Sigh….
Pop quiz, who said that federal funding should go only “to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.”
The answer can be found here with lots of other quotes from our Founding Fathers on what they REALLY believed. Reid needs to invest in a history book.
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