House Republicans introduced a measure yesterday to restore earmark reforms passed last year that they say were "gutted" by the Democratic leadership.

The measures passed by the House in 2006 allow lawmakers to vote on individual earmarks, specific funding requests attached to larger bills that often are called "pork" -- a process Democrats have said they will not use as Congress considers the 12 annual spending bills.

"Our resolution will restore the earmark reforms Republican put in place last year that have been unceremoniously gutted by House Democrats this year," said House Minority Leader John A. Boehner of Ohio. "They've traded earmark transparency for earmark secrecy, and American taxpayers deserve better."

House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer labeled Mr. Boehner's complaints as an "irony amongst ironies," describing it as simply a tactical move lacking substance.

Mr. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, said that when Republicans were in charge of Congress "a majority of the earmarks" were not included until conference, and that last year's reforms were passed after the major appropriations bills were completed.

House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, Wisconsin Democrat, has come under fire from Republican lawmakers and some outside groups for his plans that would keep earmarks "secret" until they are inserted during Senate-House conferences, in which differences between measures passed in each chamber are resolved.

Critics of the move say it will create a "slush fund" of pork-barrel spending with little transparency or accountability.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers took to the House floor to protest what they called an excessive and inappropriate use of the earmark process.

"There are people that are in prison today because of this," said Rep. David Dreier, California Republican.

"If you have more information, that gives you power," he added.
Rep. Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican, a longtime critic of earmarks, said lawmakers need the power of information about potential projects to make a decision.

"Under what has been proposed, we will never have a vote on a single earmark, and that is simply wrong," Mr. Flake said.

Mr. Obey described his party's approach to earmarks as a "sweeping change" from the previous Congress. Mr. Obey said the earmark-disclosure process has been backlogged because Republicans did not finish appropriations bills, including funds for Iraq and Hurricane Katrina recovery, before adjourning last year.

Mr. Obey said it will take at least four to five weeks to properly scrutinize more than 32,000 spending requests. He said lawmakers will then have 30 days to review and challenge earmarks. After such a challenge is made, the earmark's author will have the chance to respond in writing. "There's a big difference between what we are doing and the old Republican process," he said.

Still, Republicans say that is a contradiction to promises made by Democrats in the past year, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's call for stronger earmark reform.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/natio...2251-5053r.htm

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People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
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TheHill.com - Rep. Boehner declares war' over approps

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) yesterday moved to “declare war” on the appropriations earmarks process set by House Democrats last week, vowing to use parliamentary procedures to delay and potentially thwart spending bills.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) threatened to keep the House in session through the weekend to get four pending appropriations bills done this week.

Enough is enough,” Boehner said, adding that the new process does not allow adequate time for members to review earmarks before they are included in the spending bill. “They’ve traded earmark transparency for earmark secrecy, and American taxpayers deserve better.”

Republicans have criticized House Democrats for offering to add earmarks in during conference, when they cannot be formally challenged on the floor. Money has been set aside for the projects in the bills, leading Republicans to accuse Democrats of creating “slush funds.”

Democrats argued that Republicans are using earmarks as an excuse to block the largest increase in veterans’ healthcare funding — $12.7 billion — and other popular spending programs because they don’t want to take on the substance of Democratic proposals.

“They have not been able to find anything of substance to complain about,” said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.). He quoted former Vice President Spiro Agnew in dubbing Republican complainers “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

Democrats also accused Republicans of hypocrisy, stressing that the use of earmarks ballooned during 12 years of GOP rule.
Often, they recalled, Republicans “air-dropped” earmarks into conference reports at the last second.

If Republicans slow down floor action, Democrats could send the spending bills back to the Rules Committee and bring them back under closed rules that don’t allow amendments.

Appropriations bills are traditionally open to amendments, and Republicans said that if Democratic leaders try to close the rules to amendments, they will escalate further — going from slowing the process to effectively stopping it.
But that wasn’t something Democrats were ready to talk about.

“It’s our intention to proceed in the regular order,” Hoyer said twice when asked at his weekly briefing about the prospect of limiting amendments.

Another option is to do away with earmarks altogether, a prospect raised by Obey Monday.

Leaders did not immediately move to head off the confrontation. A spokesman for Appropriations Committee ranking member Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) said Lewis and Obey had not spoken about the GOP tactics to try and work out any form of compromise.

But Hoyer and House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) talked intently on the floor as the debate began on homeland security appropriations yesterday.

Later in the day, Boehner introduced a resolution to try to restore last year’s GOP rules that required members to assign their names to earmarks and allow attempts to strike them on the floor.

“Our resolution will restore the earmark reforms Republican put in place last year that have been unceremoniously gutted by House Democrats this year,” Boehner said in a statement.

Hoyer responded that the earmark reform rule Republicans want to resurrect never went into effect last year. Instead, it was delayed until this year, but Democrats took over and enacted their own rules.

Yet anti-pork crusader Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) last year was allowed to challenge individual earmarks on the floor during the last Congress. Flake’s efforts were overwhelmingly rejected by the House and sometimes triggered heated responses from the earmark sponsors.

Flake said the Democratic plan on earmarks “is just not acceptable.” He vowed to offer amendments striking the funding for the earmarks.

Republican leaders, meanwhile, yesterday rallied their members around the earmark issue on a staff-and-member level.

An internal memo from the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC) to members and press staff encouraged each lawmaker to participate actively in the debate through speeches, media or press releases. The memo suggested members participate in the RSC special order speech yesterday.

Obey yesterday accused the Republicans of trying to “filibuster by amendments “ on the floor. The RSC has a list of 60 to 70 amendments for the homeland security bill alone.

During press conferences, Democrats repeatedly denied that they’re keeping earmarks secret. In the process devised by Obey, the member projects will be entered into the Congressional Record before the August recess. Conference reports are to be done in September, meaning the earmarks would be public for at least a month.

But the earmarks cannot be stricken from a conference report on a floor vote. Instead, appropriators would have to be persuaded by fellow members or public criticism. Obey said it’s still a more open process, citing high-profile efforts by Appropriations Committee members Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) and imprisoned ex-Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) to secure earmarks.

“It took you a couple of years to find out what Duke Cunningham did,” Obey told reporters. “It took you a year to find Don Young’s highway in Florida.”

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People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp92vkXcC0w

This is your Criminal fucking Un American Politicians doing what SHEEP Vote the no good bastards to do! FUCK EM start the Revolution!!!!!!!!!!!