Fire them all

The Hill:

The leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee are calling on President Bush to back away from threats to kill funding for lawmakers’ pet projects.

Poor babies!

The pre-emptive warnings from the top Democrat and Republican on the panel are the clearest signs yet that President Bush could face a bipartisan backlash if he uses his executive authority to wipe out the more than $7 billion in earmarks.

And as Everett Dirksen used to say^[1], “a billion here, a billion there...”

Bush... has indicated he might direct officials at federal agencies to ignore the nearly 9,000 member projects written in the bill’s report language...

Yeah? Come on, George! Show us you've got the guts!

The executive order... would roil already poor relations between the White House and the Democratic Congress —

That's not a bug, it's a feature.

... not to mention infuriate many Republicans touting the projects to their constituents.

Those “Republicans” need to be “infuriated” (not to mention slapped upside of the head, reminded of party principles in a LOUD voice, and then tossed out of office).

A spokesman for Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.)...

Ah yes, Senator Pork himself!

accused the Bush administration of hypocrisy...

snicker!

...for considering an executive order telling federal agencies to ignore earmarks since no such order was issued during Republican control of Congress...

So because Bush didn’t do the right thing before, he shouldn’t do the right thing now?

Byrd’s counterpart, ranking Republican Thad Cochran (Miss.), agrees that such a plan would hinder the appropriations process.

“hinder the appropriations process” == “get between the boodlers and their boodle”

“Just as Congress takes the president’s budget request under very careful advisement...

Stop it, I’m dyin’ here!

...so should the president honor the report language Congress writes to accompany bill text,” said Margaret McPhillips, a spokeswoman for Cochran.

...as she struggled to maintain a straight face.

“Requiring all budget specifics to be included in bill text would be highly inefficient

...because then they'd be right out there, in front of God and everybody!

...and would cripple an already difficult budget process.”

Bwahahahaha!

...
But the move could create a sharp backlash within Bush’s own party...

...nothing compared to the backlash he’ll get if he lets all this pork go through.

...and anger senior Republicans touting their projects back home, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.)...

Sounds like a good target for some letters.

Oh, to hell with it. Just fire them all.


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^[1] Or maybe not:

"Oh, I never said that. A newspaper fella misquoted me once, and I thought it sounded so go that I never bothered to deny it."

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 17:31:03 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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