Many Senators Who Voted to Ban Earmarks Also Pushed Pet Projects

Senators vote to ban earmarks _ then grab them
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than two dozen senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of Earmarks in an almost $1.3 Trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies into next fall. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP senators voiced outrage but made no effort to dump their own ear...

Republican Earmark Hypocrisy
From The Senate Democrats, Republicans are finally taking a little bit of heat in the press for their hypocrisy on Earmarks. Senate Republicans took a lot of heat yesterday for stuffing a bill with millions of their own earmarks, then trying to claim they oppose Earmarks. but Republicans’ earmark hypocrisy is even starker when you compare what they are saying in Washington, DC to what they are saying to their constituents back home. In D.C., DeMint Decries Earmarks: “Americans want ...

Senators vote to ban earmarks _ then grab them
WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty-five senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of earmarks in an almost $1.3 trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies until next year. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP senators voiced outrage but made no effort to dump their own earma...

Senators vote to ban earmarks _ then grab them
Twenty-five senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of Earmarks in an almost $1.3 Trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies until next year. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP senators voiced outrage but made no effort to dump their own Earmarks from the Legislation...

How They Learned to Start Worrying and Stop Appropriating
The omnibus spending bill died in the Senate last night, and the death was a long time coming. It started to bleed in 2006, when a series of rule changes and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act were passed, opening up the process by which bills were marked up to public scrutiny. It got a good hard kick in December 2009, when President Obama signed that year's omnibus, but only after an angry Speech declaring that the bill had to "mark an end to the old way of doing business a...

Senator Coburn Lists Every Bit of Pork In New Omnibus Spending Bill
Drew just mentioned this, and Bennett (Appropriator, UT) attempting to get all the sweet sweet pork he can before leaving office. Coburn's database has all the pork for your inspection. Here are two that Slublog has called out so far: $500,000: Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, Boston, MA, for educational program development, including an endowment Requested by Marky in the House and Kerry in the Senate. From Debbie Stabenow: $800,000:Crim Fitness Foundation, Flint, MI ...

Reid Pulls Controversial $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill in Favor of Short-Term Budget Fix
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev., pauses while speaking with the media, after their Senate Democratic Caucus, Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, bowing to Republican opposition to a 1,924-page $1.2 Trillion spending measure packed with Earmarks, withdrew the bill and said he would work with Republican leaders on a smaller, short-term Budget fix to avoid a looming government shutdown. The government already is operating on a te...

Senators wanting earmark ban end up grabbing them
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than two dozen senators—most of them Republicans—put hundreds of homestate projects in the $1.3 Trillion bill to fund the Federal Government even though they recently voted to ban so-called Earmarks. The effort to pass the 1,924-page bill collapsed Thursday night after complaints by Conservatives over its complexity and size and the relatively few days to be devoted to debating its merits. Anti-spending Tea Party Activists were angry, too, especially since they ...

Republicans kill omnibus bill, including their own earmarks
A $1.1 Trillion omnibus bill that included $8 billion in Earmarks from lawmakers who opposed them was pulled from the Senate after Majority Leader Harry Reid acknowledged that he did not have the votes to withstand a Republican Filibuster. All 42 Republicans had threatened to filibuster the bill, despite the fact that two Republican Senators — Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker of Mississippi — requested $561 million and $449 million in earmarks. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell req...

Senators Vote to Ban Earmarks - Then Grab Them
Thursday, December 16, 2010 By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Washington (AP) - Twenty-five senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of Earmarks in an almost $1.3 Trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies until next year. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP sena...

Senators vote to ban earmarks _ then grab them
WASHINGTON — Twenty-five senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of Earmarks in an almost $1.3 Trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies until next year. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP senators voiced outrage but made no effort to dump their own earmarks...

Senators vote to ban earmarks -- then grab them
WASHINGTON—More than two dozen senators, most Republicans, who recently voted to ban homestate projects are claiming hundreds of Earmarks in an almost $1.3 Trillion bill to fund most federal programs and agencies into next fall. Republicans are calling the 1,924-page bill a pork-filled mess and accusing Democrats of trying to jam it through Congress with minimal debate and little if any opportunity to make changes. Some GOP senators voiced outrage but made no effort to dump their own earm...

Defeat 6 Weeks Too Late Is Still Sweet
Last night, Harry Reid pulled the pork-filled omnibus spending bill , agreeing to a 1-page CR to fund the government through the holidays: After wrestling with, and finally abandoning, a 1,900-page catch-all spending bill stuffed with more than $8 billion in home-state projects known as Earmarks in Washington and pork in the rest of the country, Senate leaders need to come up with a measure to keep the Federal Government running into early next year. Nearly $1.3 Trillion in unfinished Budget wo...

Texas Sen. John Cornyn at odds with spending bill because of earmarks
Texas Sen. John Cornyn at odds with spending bill because of Earmarks 09:30 AM CST on Thursday, December 16, 2010 By TODD J. GILLMAN / The Dallas Morning News [email protected] WASHINGTON - Texas' senators sought Wednesday to distance themselves from a $1.1 Trillion spending package that contains hundreds of millions in earmarks they requested, including $20 million for Dallas' Trinity River Project. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, with fellow Republican John Thune of South Dakota, ...

The Failure of the Omnibus and the End of Appropriation
It's impossible to understand what Sen. Harry Reid did tonight, in pulling the omnibus spending bill from the Senate floor, without considering what has happened to the political power of appropriators in 2010. - The chairmen of the House Appropriations, Transportation, Budget, and Armed Services committees either retired or lost their seats. Blanche Lincoln, having taken over the Agriculture committee in the Senate, was defeated. - Republicans buckled and agreed to a Caucus-wide ban on earmark ...

Have Republicans Cleaned Up Their Act On Earmarking?
In times past porking up bills was a bit of Bipartisanship both parties enjoyed, but these days it seems that while Democrats just keep right on porking Republicans are becoming much more reticent in their spending requests. A new analysis by a group of federal-spending Watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republicans have made enormous strides in cleaning up their act. In the Senate, the GOP made only...

Senate Prepares for Saturday Votes on both DADT and DREAM
Last night, news broke that Senate Democrats would move forward this weekend with final votes on both the DREAM Act and the Repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." The Senate had planned to use the weekend wrapping up an omnibus spending bill to fund the government, but as Talking Points Memo reported: That left Reid several votes shy of the 60 he'd need to overcome a Filibuster and essentially vaporized a year's worth of work by the Appropriations Committee. After tabling t...

A vow to vote down their own earmarks
The port city of Pascagoula on Mississippi's Gulf Coast wants to build a beach promenade, with new benches, lush landscaping and a lighted pathway for joggers, cyclists and dog walkers. So the municipality of 24,000 hired a pair of Washington Lobbyists. The city shelled out $40,000 a year, according to Public Records, to retain Jeffrey Brooks and Wayne Weidie. They are former top aides to Gulf Coast congressmen and frequent Donors to Mississippi's elected officials. The lobbyists parlayed th...

Foxs Brian Kilmeade Comments On Sen. Claire McCaskills Senate Speech: That Voice Goes Right Through Me
At least one of the gang at Fox & Friends wasn’t so friendly to Sen. Claire McCaskill this morning, as co-host Brian Kilmeade made it clear he just can’t stand listening to the voice of the Democrat from Missouri. McCaskill, who spoke witheringly about Republican criticisms of Earmarks in the Legislation, had part of her remarks played on F&F Friday morning, and the short clip was more than enough to apparently give Kilmeade the fingernails-on-the-chalkboard willies: “...

Reid Forced To Drop $1.3T Omnibus Bill
From a deeply saddened Associated Press: Senate Dem leader drops nearly $1.3T spending bill By Andrew Taylor, Associated Press December 17, 2010 WASHINGTON - After wrestling with — and finally abandoning — a 1,900-page catch-all spending bill stuffed with more than $8 billion in home-state projects known as Earmarks in Washington and pork in the rest of the country, Senate leaders need to come up with a measure to keep the Federal Government running into early next year … What a

Parties no longer equal on pork
The defeat last night of the OmniPorkulus bill, as the Boss Emeritus calls it, gives us a chance to revisit the long-held — and long-true — belief that both parties are equally addicted to pork-barrel spending.  That certainly proved true enough when Republicans held power, as Earmarks skyrocketed and both parties squealed with delight at the trough.  However, a new study by a coalition of of Watchdog groups on the FY2011 Budget proposal shows that one party has made great stride...

The earmark difference in 2010
Image via Wikipedia Byron York: Press coverage of the Budget frenzy on Capitol Hill has suggested that pork-barrel earmark spending is still a Bipartisan problem, that after months of self-righteous Rhetoric about fiscal discipline, Republicans and Democrats remain equal-opportunity earmarkers. It's not true. A new analysis by a group of federal-spending Watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republica...

Deficit Hawk Kent Conrad Requested $164 Million In Pork
It looks like the omnibus spending bill is toast in the Senate, with Harry Reid pulling the pork-laden Legislation in favor of a continuing resolution that will keep spending at current levels until the new Congress is seated and can address the Budget, but it’s worth noting that North Dakota’s delegation (including Senator Kent Conrad) requested a total of $307,786,300 in pork in that bill. Kent Conrad himself, the self-styled Deficit hawk who has said that the nation is on the edge...

Harry Reid Pulls Massive Omnibus Spending Bill; Mitch McConnell Reacts Video 12/16/10
Here is video of GOP Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell reacting to news that Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid had pulled the massive $1.1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill because he did not have the 60-votes for Cloture - which would bring it up for an Up or Down vote. The massive bill was filled with more than 39,000 Earmarks, and was 1,924-pages long . This means some kind of continuing resolution will likely be needed to fund the Government until the new Congress can act in J...

Republicans Beat the Omnibus, Give More Power to Obama.
Last night, Republicans walked out of an agreement they had negotiated with Democrats in recent months, killing a spending bill that would have kept government functioning through the new year. Ostensibly, this is due to Republicans' new objections to Earmarks, which mean that top Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Thad Cochran turned their back on a bill they had shaped with millions of dollars for their home states. Dave Weigel observes John McCain and newly elected Sen. Mark Kirk in a bout ...