Posted on 08/01/2007 11:16:26 AM PDT by AngryNeighbor
Washington, D.C. - The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today charged Senate and House conferees on ethics and lobbying reform with fleecing American taxpayers by gutting earmark reform.
Following the conclusion of secret negotiations intended to bypass the normal legislative process, the compromise bill that was announced today will gut the earmark reform provisions that had already passed as part of S. 1, the Senate ethics and lobbying reform bill, and which already exist in the rules of the House. The conference deal makes a mockery of the promise of “the most ethical Congress in history,” which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed she would establish when Democrats took over in January, 2007.
“The taxpayers’ worst fears have been realized. Prototypical of Washington backroom deals, House and Senate Democrats have conjured up a deal that benefits only the powerful appropriators and the special interests that game the system at the expense of average Americans,” said CCAGW president Tom Schatz.
The compromise would ruin several key provisions of the bill that had already passed by a vote of 96-2 in January, 2007. For example, the Senate-passed bill would have blocked consideration of any bill in conference unless all earmarks were disclosed in advance. That provision no longer exists. The Senate-passed bill required Congress to create a searchable database of earmarks and make it available to taxpayers. The new deal only requires Congress to establish such a database “if practicable.” The Senate-passed bill authorized the Senate Parliamentarian to review the bills to be sure that earmarks were accompanied by the proper certifications and that members of Congress had met all earmark disclosure requirements. In the new compromise deal, that authority would rest with the Senate Majority Leader and certain committee chairmen, including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the “King of Pork.” In many cases, these are the very people responsible for the glut of earmarks in the first place. The language in the Senate-passed bill required that each member of Congress certify that a requested earmark would not financially benefit him or her personally, nor any member of his or her family. The new deal says that personal self-interest isn’t a deal breaker, just as long as others benefit from the earmark as well a hurdle easily overcome by claiming benefits to “my district” or “my state.”
“Taxpayers need to sit up and pay attention to this abuse of their money. This is a direct attack on their right to know how tax dollars are being spent and misspent. If enacted, these changes will corrode the modest advances that have already been in effect in the House since January, reduce accountability, and further encourage the legalized bribery that surrounds the pork-barrel process. That behavior sometimes steps over the line and becomes illegal,” said Schatz. “If this bill becomes law, the country will have taken a step backward from accountability. So-called leaders in both parties want to jam this legislation through just before the August recess. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will offer an amendment to restore the original earmark reform language from the Senate-passed bill and we urge taxpayers and his colleagues to support his amendment.”
“The taxpayers’ worst fears have been realized. Prototypical of Washington backroom deals, House and Senate Democrats have conjured up a deal that benefits only the powerful appropriators and the special interests that game the system at the expense of average Americans,” said CCAGW president Tom Schatz.Courtesy of the San Francisco electorate. Thanks folks!
Such a surprise.
ping
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