Republican Congressmen Triumph (?) Over Earmarks?

I throw in the question mark because reforming earmarks is an awful lot like killing Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees. Yeah, it's on the ground now, but you just know they're going to do that scary pop-up thing the moment you turn your back.

Which is why I think that anyone who gets Myers, Jason, or earmarks on the ground should not turn one's back, but take that opportunity to grab the machete and decapitate the son of a bitch once and for all. (Not that that stopped Michael Myers, of course...)

At any rate, for now, the monster is collapsed on the floor with a wire hanger stuck in its eye. Republicans, led by Boeher (of "piece of shit" fame, no less), have forced Democrats to honor their pre-election commitments to disclosing earmarks and actually voting on them.

As part of the deal completed after extensive negotiations that ended late today, Republicans agreed to allow two appropriations bills (Homeland Security and Military Quality of Life) – bills that include few or no earmarks – to move forward immediately. All 10 remaining appropriations bills will come to the floor later with their earmarks fully disclosed and subject to challenge by any lawmaker – a key element of the 2006 GOP reforms.

Also a hero here? Jim DeMint, again. No link -- you'll just have to trust me; never got around to linking the source -- but when Democrats were pulling their shit over earmarks, DeMint did something precious -- he introduced Nancy Pelosi's very own pre-election earmark-reform plan as a bill in the Senate, just to embarrass Democrats with it.

That didn't seem to work -- Democrats are shameless -- but still, for a stupid racist anti-Hispanic trogoldyte, he sure seems pretty clever.

posted by Ace at 07:30 PM

| Access Comments