| Do
you remember when
Senator John McCain declared during the election campaign that he
would expose any earmarks? "You will know their names. I
will make them famous." He did try to call attention to some
of the problems in the stimulus bill in his
statement of February 3. He identified a few examples of
inappropriate spending in the bill, but didn't "name names".
The perpetrators behind these abuses, and the lobbyists behind them,
remained cloaked in the usual anonymity. The same has been true
for the $410 billion Omnibus bill (with nearly 9000 earmarks,
40% of which are reportedly from Republicans). This came out less
than 2 days after Obama, in his speech to a joint session of Congress,
praised the "stimulus" bill for not having any earmarks (true - all the
pork was in the original bill) and promised to not have any next year -
while quietly ignoring the Omnibus pork bill as "last year's spending"
even though it was blocked last year. |
| The
problem now, however, isn't just earmarks. It's the whole budget
and rapid, radical changes to the structure and power of the federal
government to intervene in markets and individual lives. If
Republican Party leaders in Washington can't figure out how to stop this
train wreck, then state and local leaders will need to feel intense heat
from angry voters to transform the party from the bottom up.
Americans aren't ready to tar and feather members of Congress yet, but
their patience will soon wear thin. |
Let's
see if Senator McCain or any other Republican leaders are ready to expose the new "stimulus"
package, Omnibus earmarks, and all of the special interest groups which
are already being paid off
through such bills, and identify who was responsible for slipping their favored
provisions into the bill.
There has been some discussion of "pork"
projects in the legislative debate, but the American public really needs
to be more fully informed. Where is real transparency and
integrity? There is more honor in a den of thieves than in
Congress these days. Make the abuses and the abusers famous.
It should not be left to the talk radio hosts,
bloggers, and other commentators to identify the problems. Our
elected officials need to take this story directly to their
constituents, and expose all of the abuses, both in this "stimulus" bill
and other legislation. As one Democrat said very
candidly about the "stimulus" bill, this is "just the first bite of the
apple" as the regular budget cycle begins. We can expect more
abuses to follow. The problem now isn't just earmarks slipped into
legislation without any review. It is the legislation itself. |
|
HR 1 - American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(stimulus bill - House version as amended)
pdf version as of Feb 10, 2009 per GPO - 1434 pages with
revisions from Senate version and conference. Skip past the first
few hundred pages which are just replaced by the later pages.
Note that you can use the "search" tool to find specific
text, such as "health information technology" provisions. This was
only published at around 11pm ET on Feb 12, the night before the final
House vote and Senate vote. Despite Obama promises of
"transparency" to allow legislation to be published for at least 5 days
prior to signing, this bill is being rushed through as an "emergency"
exception.
This is a fraud. The recession officially began
in December 2007. The banking problems became a crisis in
September, now almost 5 months ago. Some economic indicators are
already improving. It is hard to believe that there isn't time to
carefully review the largest spending bill in recorded history. |
| A
date which will live in infamy - Friday, February 13, 2009
While waiting for the above exposure of the apparent
abuses in this legislation, here's the final vote in the House, which
was suitably scheduled on Friday the 13th.
Let's work hard to make this the most unlucky day ever
for those Democrats who voted for this bill.
Every Democrat in the House voted for it (246), with
just nine exceptions (7 no, 1 present, 1 not voting)..
Voted present -
Daniel Lipinski
(D - IL) - upholding the Obama tradition of voting present?
No vote at all -
John Campbell (R -
CA), James
Clyburn (D -SC), and
Chris Lee (R - NY)
- the district affected by a plane crash on the day of the vote on the
bill. Both Republicans seemed to oppose it.
House Democrats voting Nay - (hooray for them!)
Bobby Bright (D -
AL)
Peter DeFazio (D
- OR)
Parker Griffith (D
- AL)
Walt Minnick (D -
ID)
Collin
Peterson (D - MN)
Heath Shuler (D - NC)
see also
Blue
Dog Coalition
Gene Taylor (D -
MS)
All House Republicans (176) voted against it,
with the 2 exceptions above (no vote). |
| In
the Senate, the result was as expected, 60 - 38.
Only
Susan
Collins (ME),
Olympia Snowe
(ME), and
Arlen
Specter (PA) supported the stimulus bill among the Republican
Senators. Ted Kennedy missed the vote for health reasons.
Minnesota had only 1 vote because the election results between Norm
Coleman and Al Franken are still in dispute. Despite his
independence and conservative views on some issues,
Joe Lieberman
voted for the stimulus bill. |
|
Follow-up with your elected officials If you
live in the district of the 7 House Democrats who had the courage to vote
against this bill, please let them know that you appreciate their
decision, whatever the reason for it. There was obviously strong
pressure for all Democrats to support this bill, and their caucus will
surely not welcome their votes.
Likewise, if you live in a Republican district, please
remember to thank your Representative for taking a united stand against
this bill, even though passage may have been inevitable.
The "present" or "no vote" on such important
legislation seems hard to explain. Realistically, however, this
vote was scheduled before anyone could possibly have fully read the
final version of the bill, much less given any real scrutiny to the
provisions, including many recent changes to it. Refer to their
websites to see if they have any explanation to offer. |
| If
you live in the district of a Democrat who supported this bill, please
keep it simple but let them
know if you disagree with their vote. The new job which they have
created is for you to work toward their defeat in the next election.
Remind them that you have a long memory, and will hold
them accountable for the consequences of their vote on this and
subsequent legislation as the regular budget cycle moves forward.
This improvised explosive device by the liberal
insurgency in Washington is likely just the first of many radical
assaults on the legacy of freedom which we too often take for granted in
this country. |
|
Department of Unhealthy and Inhumane
Services. Nationalized health care by stealth. |
| |
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