Congressman John Campbell's Blog - Green Eyeshade Blog

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Democrat's Failing to Reform Earmark Process

Posted by: John Campbell at 4:27 PM

The Dem's record on earmark reform their first three months in power is dismal at best. Thus far, they have used over $20 billion in pork and special handouts to win votes for the war supplemental, enacted ambiguous ethics rules, extended the deadline for earmark submissions by two weeks, reneged on their pledge to limit requests, fought against full earmark disclosure in committee, and there are reports of appropriators preventing government researchers from publishing data on earmark submissions. The Senate has yet to even pass any kind of rules that disclose what member requested these millions and sometimes billions of dollars.

Given all of this, I do not have much optimism when Speaker Pelosi and the Dem's continue to talk about the earmark reform. Matching their rhetoric with their actions shows you the true tenor of their stance on the issue.

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dogjudge writes:	Wednesday, April, 11, 2007 12:17 PM
Disingenuous
It should be everyone's goals to get government spending under control. That being said, Representative Campbell complaining about this is more than a little disingenuous. The last three Republican Congresses were some of the worst in our countries history about pork. So now that they're not in power, they're complaining about the Democrats. First of all, these bills haven't passed. Secondly the Republicans prevented ANY publication of earmark information at all. Now that it's starting to happen you have the White House playing games with this. At least the Democrats have been trying to shed light on this nonsense. NOT like the Republicans who wanted it hidden. Come on Rep. Campbell. Tell us about the things that YOU are DOING to make these programs BETTER. Don't play politics and tell us how bad the Democrats are, especially when the Republicans were FAR worse.
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justpaul writes:	Wednesday, April, 11, 2007 2:31 PM
Sun rises tomorrow
Film at 11:00? Come on dude. This is news worthy of commentary? You must be the only person in America who took them at their word.
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PassOnTheLeft writes:	Wednesday, April, 11, 2007 8:01 PM
dogjudge; you're wrong
No offense, but I don't think you know what disingenous means. Campbell makes no claim the Republicans didn't waste money as well. His point in this simple little (but important) critique is that the Democrats are turning out to be the posturing, phony, liars many voters expected them to be. It is important to focus on the topic. Your assumption that Campbell doesn't also think the Republicans were wasteful just because he is describing the Democrats as such is unfounded.
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About John Campbell

John Campbell is a member of the House Financial Services Committee, and has taken a leadership role in addressing the country's top economic issues. Campbell serves as a member of the Joint Economic Committee, and House Committee on the Budget. He has a Bachelor's Degree in Economics from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Taxation from USC.