Overshadowed by the debate over Iraq's future and "the surge" was heavy maneuvering on The Hill Thursday regarding earmarking - and a Republican's amendment to include sacred items included in military contracts and civil engineering projects that account for the vast majority of total annual earmarked funds.
A potential black eye for the Dems' promised ethics push, Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced an amendment to a proposed bill on making earmarks more "transparent," offering a shot-over-the-bow to rather lackluster Dem rewrites of ethics laws. The original bill only required disclosure of individual lawmakers sponsoring a small fraction of earmarks and, astonishingly, specifically excluded all earmarks dispensed through military contracts and civil engineering projects, which are the largest of pool of earmarks in the federal government. Senator DeMint's amendment included such earmarks, both embarrassing Dem leadership and exposing weaknesses in the proposed bill.
Curiously, Dem leadership actually attempted - but failed - to block DeMint's proposal in a vote of 51 to 49. Equally perplexing was Dem leader Senator Harry Reid offering his own amendment that appears to apply to all earmarks - only after DeMint's - saying that "Earmark disclosure will be a major change in the way the Senate works... We should adopt the Reid-McConnell version..."
Are the Dems trying to control every aspect of legislation - flaws and all - only accepting modifications when the GOP offers embarrassing (maybe more effective) amendments? What a 180-degree flip in less than a week... Real reform only comes via bipartisanship - As the last decade has shown, one-party rule amounts to suspect inside deals and, of course, anonymous earmarks.
Hopefully a lesson has been learned, as summed by Senator DeMint: "...the public's going to know from Day 1 that the idea of being open and transparent is just a scam."
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