Posted on 03/11/2009 12:39:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
The old bulls won.
Pulled between his campaign rhetoric and his own party’s congressional barons, President Barack Obama largely sided with his Hill allies in unveiling an earmark proposal Wednesday that shies away from any strict crackdown on the practice.
Obama proposed further transparency for the spending goodies prized by many members of Congress – but stopped far short of the kind of serious limits reformers wanted.
“Rather than trying to fine tune a fundamentally flawed process, we should take aggressive steps to prevent unauthorized earmarks,” said Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), a leading anti-earmark critic on the Hill.
Feingold’s GOP partner – and Obama’s former presidential rival – went further.
“The President’s rhetoric is impressive, but his statement affirms we will continue to do business as usual in Washington. . .” said Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who has led the fight against earmarks. “The President could have resolved this issue in one statement – no more unauthorized pork barrel projects – ...
Steve Ellis, head of the Taxpayers for Common Sense, put it more simply: “Some of his campaign promises have met congressional realities and he didn’t overcome them.”
Obama, in brief remarks to reporters and a bank of cameras in the Old Executive Office Building, sent an unmistakable message down Pennsylvania Avenue that he understands their need for earmark spending.
“I recognize that Congress has the power of the purse,” he said in brief remarks in the Old Executive Office Building that were unmistakably aimed down Pennsylvania Avenue. “As a former senator, I believe that individual members of Congress understand their districts best. And they should have the ability to respond to the needs of their communities.”
At times, he sounded more like a defender of the old ways than a critic.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The leader of the ‘Beltway Party’ has spoken.
sort of.
The man asked for nearly a billion dollars of pork in like two weeks of being a senator, and asked for (and got) a trillion dollars of it as president. So the fact that he’s actually pretending to dislike pork is far beyond what our expectations should be.
I cannot understand how these Democrats can cancel the DC School voucher program. Evil Pure Evil!
Over and over I post the same thing ... “don’t forget there is an expiration date on every Obama statement.”
as long as he doesn’t go soft on Michelle.
Um, what is ‘unauthorized’ pork?
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