Hoyer ignores White House on earmarks
According to the Washington Times this morning, our new president is having trouble keeping his free-spending Congressional cohorts in line so he can keep the promisies he made to voters last year;
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer became the second leading congressional Democrat in a week to push back against Mr. Obama’s drive to curb member-directed earmarks on spending bills.
Saying he was open to the president’s “suggestions” about how to reform the spending process, the Maryland Democrat told reporters, “I don’t think the White House has the ability to tell us what to do. I hope you all got that down.”
His remark echoed a warning from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, that the earmarks process is a congressional prerogative.
Emphasis is mine – in other words, Congress is going to do what it wants – despite the president. I guess they still think it’s Bush up there in the White House.
Yeah, here’s what Obama said in the campaign;
In case you missed it, this line was in there;
Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public.
Apparently Reid, Pelosi and Hoyer missed that part of the campaign. Are any of them looking around at the economy outside of the Beltway? Next year’s elections are going to be so much fun to watch.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Economy, Liberals suck, Politics, Usual Suspects
Congress doesn’t listen to the Prez anymore than they don’t listen to us. In my daily e-mail rants to friends n family; I exhort them to write their “Reprehensive” at state and national levels because these people don’t have the power of ESP. We elect these people to Represent us, and don’t write and tell them what points we want representation in. The squeaky wheel still gets the grease, always has, always will. To leave the comfort of home on election day, go vote, put on the little sticker, then get back home before the first soap opera or first Reality TV show, and do nothing is not being a good neighbor, nor being a patriot. It is our job, our obligation to tell those we elect just what we expect of them. (Yes, I know I am preaching to the Choir again) I doubt that there is a single reader here who approves of all that his/her Reprehensive has done in Congress, but most of us will check to see if he/she carries an R or a D before his/her name and vote accordingly in the next election. It is that mentality that allows Kennedy, Murtha, Snowe and their ilk to continue in politics. “…..We have met the enemy and the enemy is us….” I e-mail at least 6 different Reprenensives a week, try it, it is fun. Hoyer and Reid are not peculiar up there, just more vocal. Your Reprehensive is just as Arrogant!
nuf sed
If President Obama is serious about slashing earmarks he would veto their legislation which I see little to no chance of that happening.
I agree wholeheartedly with Frankly Opinionated. We may as well stop referring to anybody in Washington (or state capitols, for that matter) as “representatives” since they are determined to rule the people instead of represent them. One particularly galling evidence of this is the special treatments and exemptions they give themselves with respect to pensions and social security. When they have isolated themselves as effectively as they have, from the outcomes of their ridiculous appropriation and spending bills, it’s no wonder that our government is turning into a black hole for wealth, absorbing all and letting nothing escape.
I agree with the lot of you…In a perfect world,we would fire the bunch of them and start from scratch !
They’re drunk with power. May they all get replaced in 2010!