In Speech, Bush to Pledge Vetoes to Slow Earmarks

[t1]

In Speech, Bush to Pledge Vetoes to Slow Earmarks
By ROBERT PEAR
Published: January 28, 2008

WASHINGTON — President Bush will veto spending bills this year unless they halve the amount of money earmarked for lawmakers’ pet projects, and he will order agencies to ignore future earmarks unless they are explicitly listed in the text of legislation, the White House said Monday.

Mr. Bush’s press secretary, Dana Perino, said these actions, to be announced in the State of the Union address on Monday night, were “unprecedented steps” to prevent wasteful earmarks.

Some fiscal conservatives in Congress and many outside groups, like Taxpayers for Common Sense, had urged Mr. Bush to issue an executive order disregarding thousands of earmarks itemized in Congressional reports that accompanied spending bills for the current fiscal year.

Mr. Bush decided against that step, which would have caused a political uproar on Capitol Hill. He will issue an executive order on Tuesday, Ms. Perino said, but it will apply only to future earmarks.

The White House said the executive order would direct federal agencies to “ignore any future earmark that is not voted on and included in a law approved by Congress.”

Most earmarks — more than 90 percent — are not in the text of bills presented to the president for his approval, but in reports that accompany the legislation. In several decisions over the years federal courts have ruled that congressional instructions included in reports but not in legislative text are not binding on the executive branch.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/wa...ss&oref=slogin

It's about time.

[Cheesehead]

Oh, so now in his last year he decides to slow earmarks! With over 14,000+ under a Republican Congress. What an incompetent jerk!

[sherlockhomer]

So are you voting for Hitlery? The incompetent jerkess?

The Pork Barrel Presidential Candidate

How has Hillary Clinton prepared herself to become the Democratic nominee for President? She hasn't held an executive office, nor has she entered the diplomatic service. She has only one and a third Senate terms for experience. However, she has nurtured a network of supporters and contributors, and as the Los Angeles Times reports, Hillary has used her Senate power to keep them enriched:

Since taking office in 2001, Clinton has delivered $500 million worth of earmarks that have specifically benefited 59 corporations. About 64% of those corporations provided funds to her campaigns through donations made by employees, executives, board members or lobbyists, a review by the Los Angeles Times shows.

All told, Clinton has earmarked more than $2.3 billion in federal appropriations for projects in her state since her election to the Senate, much of it for public works projects funded in conjunction with fellow Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer and others in the New York congressional delegation. ....

Her record stands in contrast with others in the Senate seeking the presidency, particularly John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). McCain, who has long opposed earmarks, does not write them. Obama has used the device, but now declines to earmark funds for private companies; he uses earmarks only to secure funds for government projects such as road building and hospital construction. Other senators seeking the presidency provide earmarks to home-state constituents and collect donations from recipients of the federal largesse. But The Times review found that Clinton does it on a different scale.

rest....http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/...ves/016264.php

Sorry didn't mean to take the thread off topic. We can have an intelectual discussion about the speech tmorrow in the Right wing section (deleted by vendetta)

[Cheesehead]

Wow! Do you really want to compare earmark numbers for senators? Did she run as a conservative?

And no, I'm not voting for her.

Are you voting for the guy with the magic underwear?

[Papa Ray]

Earmarks (pork) are small pototoes and nothing compared to the entititlements we will be paying out to the "American Public" in the future.

The reason there are quote marks on American is because a large percentage of those dollars will be paid to people who are not citizens of this Republic.

Consider that and try explaining that to your friends, relatives and kids.

Papa Ray