Obey Tells GOP They Can't Have Their Pork And Eat It Too
The GOP may be the party of no -- but when it comes to individual Republican lawmakers taking credit for federally-funded projects in their home states, they're a resounding yes."If you look at where money went, it went to districts all over the country where members of Congress voted against the economic recovery," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood at a breakfast with reporters Wednesday. "Now we've seen them show up at the ribbon cuttings, by the way, elbowing their way to the front of the line."
Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) push to secure billions in contracting dollars for a European firm that happens to employ non-union, low-wage workers in his home state is only the most vivid example of the have-it-both-ways strategy.
David Obey has had enough -- and when he speaks, members of Congress listen. The powerful Democratic chairman of the House Appropriations Committee controls the purse strings and can decide the fate of a local project that may be crucial to a reelection -- no matter how often "pork" is derided on the campaign trail.
Obey fired off a tough letter to his House colleagues on Thursday, condemning the hypocrisy of lawmakers who vote against funding for projects after previously expressing their support.
The particular issue that got Obey riled up -- admittedly, not a hard task to accomplish -- was a funding request for a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative circulated by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.).
Last year, Obey increased funding for the initiative from $60 billion to $475 billion and Rogers organized his colleagues to lobby for even more.
Yet he and nearly every other Republican ended up voting against the bill that contained the funding for the project they had sought the year before, though they had gone out publicly to claim credit for it while at other times bashing Democrats for spending like "drunken sailors."
The Shelby OpeningLast month, the Pew Research Center released a poll that found that only 26 percent of respondents know that 60 votes are required to break a filibuster. No wonder Democratic complaints about Republican obstructionists have thus far failed to catch fire. It's just not all that easy to have a national conversation on the topic when three fourths of the country is in the dark about the process.But all of that can change after today.
Congress Daily reports that Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has placed a "blanket hold" on at least 70 of President Obama's nominations until he receives over $40 billion worth of earmarks for his state.This is unconscionably outrageous. If it were occurring anywhere else but the Senate chamber it would be extortion. A felony. It is an egregious misuse of minority power, easily the most flagrant example in years.
Democrats now have an easy opportunity to pick a national fight with the Republican party. It may be tough to engage the American public in a conversation about filibuster reform, but it should take little effort to build a national consensus around the basic proposition that a single senator should not hold the federal government hostage in exchange for an earmark. That the national interest should not be jeopardized for the benefit of a single state.
Shelby offers the perfect opening for Democrats. It's not clear yet which specific nominations are being held up, but as that information comes to light, we will undoubtedly find that many, if not most are nominees for indisputably critical positions in a wide variety of fields, perhaps including national security.
LinkHere
Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) decision to place a "blanket hold" on all presidential nominations until a pair of billion-dollar earmarks for his home state are...
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, CongressDaily (sub. req.)...
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is attracting a great deal of attention for putting a “blanket hold” on all 70 of President Obama’s pending executive nominations in order secure pork for his state. According to congressional experts, Shelby’s hold is both a “rare” and “aggressive” abuse of his power.
Unsurprisingly, Shelby had quite a very different attitude when a Republican sat in the White House. In early ’05 — shortly after winning his fourth term to the Senate — Shelby complained, “Far too many of the President’s nominees were never afforded an up or down vote, because several Democrats chose to block the process for political gain.” He added, “Inaction on these nominees is a disservice to the American people.”
In Feb. 2005, Shelby specifically promised his constituents in Tuscaloosa that he’d do “whatever it takes” to confirm Bush’s judicial nominees, including killing the filibuster:
Shelby also pledged to do “whatever it takes” to confirm Bush’s judicial nominees. A vast majority of Bush’s appointees were confirmed in his first term, but a few controversial ones were filibustered by Democrats in the Senate.
Unsurprisingly, Shelby had quite a very different attitude when a Republican sat in the White House. In early ’05 — shortly after winning his fourth term to the Senate — Shelby complained, “Far too many of the President’s nominees were never afforded an up or down vote, because several Democrats chose to block the process for political gain.” He added, “Inaction on these nominees is a disservice to the American people.”
In Feb. 2005, Shelby specifically promised his constituents in Tuscaloosa that he’d do “whatever it takes” to confirm Bush’s judicial nominees, including killing the filibuster:
Shelby also pledged to do “whatever it takes” to confirm Bush’s judicial nominees. A vast majority of Bush’s appointees were confirmed in his first term, but a few controversial ones were filibustered by Democrats in the Senate.
GOP officially breaks filibuster record
WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Republican Senate minority today filibustered an omnibus budget bill, setting a modern-day record for blocking the most legislation during a congressional session. A new report released today by the Campaign for Americas Future details the 62 times conservatives have used the filibuster to block legislation (or force modification of bills) in the first session of the 110th Congress. In just the first year of this two-year Congress, their use of the filibuster in the Senate topped the previous record, reached during the entire 107th Congress.
The new report outlines every bill filibustered, vetoed or threatened to be vetoed by President Bush. Conservatives filibustered bills to end the occupation of Iraq, provide soldiers in Iraq rest time equal to their deployments, support renewable energy and grant residents of the District of Columbia representation in Congress. Todays record-breaker involved a $516 billion budget package passed by the House to fund the federal government in 2008. The conservative minority demanded $20 billion additional funding for the war and opposed House language to bring troops home, and threatened a filibuster to prevent the bill from getting an up or down vote.
In just one session, a minority in Congress has prevented a mind-blowing 62 pieces of legislation from going to the floor for an up or down vote, said Campaign for Americas Future co-director Roger Hickey. Our report shows how over and over again, the uncompromising minority has thwarted the will of majorities in Congress and of the American people, holding the Senate floor hostage to a radical right-wing agenda.
Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture and end a filibuster. The 62nd cloture vote of the session is more than any single session of Congress since at least 1973, the earliest year cloture votes are available online from the Senate. Republicans are on pace to force 134 cloture votes to cut off a filibuster, according to the Campaign for Americas Future analysis, more than double the historical average of the last 35 years.
Even pieces of legislation that have made it past the Senate filibuster blockade have been obstructed by President Bush. Last week the President vetoed for the second time a popular bill that would expand health coverage for 10 million American children. According to the Campaign for Americas Future report, Bush has threatened to veto 84 bills and has vetoed six as of December 17. In contrast, during the period when the Republicans were in the congressional majority, Bush went the longest time without vetoing a bill since President Arthur Garfield.
Eric Lotke, Campaign for America's Future research director and lead author of the new report, calls the obstruction a deliberate strategy. He observes that the congressional Republicans block legislation, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done. Its like mugging the postman and then complaining that the mail isnt delivered on time.
The story of this historic level of obstruction has recently been covered by The New York Times, but has yet to be fully told in the media. The new Campaign for Americas Future report shows how major media outlets describe the 60-vote threshold as an ordinary procedure, neglecting that this tactic is an unprecedented assertion of minority control. LinkHere
The new report outlines every bill filibustered, vetoed or threatened to be vetoed by President Bush. Conservatives filibustered bills to end the occupation of Iraq, provide soldiers in Iraq rest time equal to their deployments, support renewable energy and grant residents of the District of Columbia representation in Congress. Todays record-breaker involved a $516 billion budget package passed by the House to fund the federal government in 2008. The conservative minority demanded $20 billion additional funding for the war and opposed House language to bring troops home, and threatened a filibuster to prevent the bill from getting an up or down vote.
In just one session, a minority in Congress has prevented a mind-blowing 62 pieces of legislation from going to the floor for an up or down vote, said Campaign for Americas Future co-director Roger Hickey. Our report shows how over and over again, the uncompromising minority has thwarted the will of majorities in Congress and of the American people, holding the Senate floor hostage to a radical right-wing agenda.
Sixty votes are needed to invoke cloture and end a filibuster. The 62nd cloture vote of the session is more than any single session of Congress since at least 1973, the earliest year cloture votes are available online from the Senate. Republicans are on pace to force 134 cloture votes to cut off a filibuster, according to the Campaign for Americas Future analysis, more than double the historical average of the last 35 years.
Even pieces of legislation that have made it past the Senate filibuster blockade have been obstructed by President Bush. Last week the President vetoed for the second time a popular bill that would expand health coverage for 10 million American children. According to the Campaign for Americas Future report, Bush has threatened to veto 84 bills and has vetoed six as of December 17. In contrast, during the period when the Republicans were in the congressional majority, Bush went the longest time without vetoing a bill since President Arthur Garfield.
Eric Lotke, Campaign for America's Future research director and lead author of the new report, calls the obstruction a deliberate strategy. He observes that the congressional Republicans block legislation, then blame the Democrats for getting nothing done. Its like mugging the postman and then complaining that the mail isnt delivered on time.
The story of this historic level of obstruction has recently been covered by The New York Times, but has yet to be fully told in the media. The new Campaign for Americas Future report shows how major media outlets describe the 60-vote threshold as an ordinary procedure, neglecting that this tactic is an unprecedented assertion of minority control. LinkHere
Campaign for Americas Futures report Block and Blame: The Conservative Strategy of Obstruction in the 110th Congress,
As the 110th Congress nears its close, the impact of a record-breaking campaign of obstruction by a conservative minority in the Senate is now more clear than ever. The right-wing strategy of "block and blame" has driven the public perception of a "do-nothing Congress." In reality, the 110th Congress would have achieved truly landmark accomplishments—including safely bringing the troops home from Iraq, reducing America's dependence on foreign oil and its contribution to global warming, and funding long-neglected domestic priorities—had it not been for conservative obstruction.Our October 2008 block-and-blame analysis cuts through the political spin. We document how what is being reported as political stalemate is really the product of a conservative political strategy, both in Congress and the White House, to sabotage the new majority in Congress as it responds to the mandate it received from the American public—even if it means bringing down public support for the entire Congress in the process.
Get the full story:
» Report: "The Real Story of the 110th Congress: The Right-Wing Block-And-Blame Game" LinkHere
The Majority Doesn't Count
Source: Secretary of the Senate
As this chart shows, never have so many filibusters been threatened as in the first session of the 110th Congress. In just the first year, Republicans filibustered more legislation, and required more cloture votes to break those filibusters, than in any Congress in recent history. By the time this term ends, Congress could well more than double the number of cloture votes of previous Congresses — including the ones that Republicans controlled and complained of Democratic 'obstruction.'
This is the result of a deliberate effort by the Republican minority to undercut the will of the majority of the American public, expressed when voters placed a Democratic majority in control of both houses of Congress. The filibuster, a procedure unique to the Senate to block an up-or-down vote on legislation unless a 60-vote supermajority agrees to proceed, has been historically used by both parties. But it has never been used as routinely as it has been by Republicans since January 2007.
» Read our up-to-date chart on judicial nominations. LinkHere
The Plot to Bury Progress
posted by Kangaroo Brisbane Australia at 5:10 PM
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