Mollohan, Under Investigation For Corrutpion Against FBI, Casts Vote Against Increased Funding For It; Senate Democrats Secretly Gut Earmark Reform Package They Voted For

Despite the fact that he claimed to have recused himself from all FBI-related votes.

Culture of corruption, not that the MSM notices much when it's on the D side of the aisle.

Meanwhile, Senate "negotiators" have managed to negotiate out all of the barely-adequate reforms they previously voted on, as seen here in this PDF comparing what had been previously agreed to and what the currently negotiated version is.

Hmmm... the Democrat-controlled Senate negotiated away every halfway meaningful earmark reform measure... must have been a tough negotiation! I'm sure they fought tooth and nail to retain these provisions, but somehow they got taken out by... somebody. Not them, of course. They did the best they could.

That's from a Senate aide who has reviewed the new Comprehensive Earmark Reform Piece of Shit.

Tim DeMint notes the similarity between this Piece of Shit and the previous Piece of Shit Reid and the rest of the establishment careerists tried to sneak past us:

Critics worry the reforms will not be aggressive enough, but the agreement, if passed, would mark a significant victory for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

...

Democratic leaders have not released the new proposal’s details, and that has some Senate Republicans -- and nonpartisan interest groups -- worried that its language was watered down in final closed-door negotiations. [That's exactly what happened; see above -- ed.]

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a key player in the negotiations over the bill, expressed concern that the leadership is hoping to push it through both houses before the scheduled August recess begins Friday.

“Once again, Sen. Reid appears to want to ram a secret bill that is several hundred pages long through the Senate without a full debate and the chance to offer amendments,” DeMint said in a statement Saturday.

...

Already, the Democratic majorities have weakened a provision that would require lobbyists to disclose how much cash they raised on behalf of candidates. Sitting lawmakers now would have to report only twice a year, rather than quarterly, how much lobbyists raised for them – and only if the amount is over $15,000 per six months, rather than $5,000 as originally planned.

...

DeMint and nine other Republicans, including Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Olympia Snowe of Maine, sent a letter to Reid on July 20 asking him to reconsider reported plans to curtail debate and amendments on the new package.

...

[DeMint] fears that the leadership will claim reform “but the language is going to basically gut the whole provision.

Filibuster time?

They're going to try to ram this Piece of Shit through tomorrow.

More... At NZ Bear (whose bullet points I find more readable than the chart I was sent) and Hot Air, which points out that the guys who will be certifying whether everyone is properly reporting their earmark requests -- the guys you'll just have to trust on earmark integrity -- are, get this, Robert "King of Pork" Byrd and Harry "Shady Land Deal With Political Supporter" Reid.

Both of these guys have been anti-reform from the outset-- they want that sweet, sweet K Street money flowing in after years of not getting what they think is their proper share of it -- and now we're supposed to believe they'll be hawks on their colleagues' earmark requests demands.

Robert Byrd, incidentally, has certified himself as having disclosed all earmarks. A public interest watch group notes he's "forgotten" to mention at least $7.5 million in earmarks.

So, you know, he's a real bear on the subject.

posted by Ace at 05:15 PM

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