The lame duck session of Congress wends on and on! Today, the bitter battle is enjoined over the omnibus budget bill, and the chief complainant is Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas). See, Cornyn is very upset about all of the earmarks that are in the bill. And it’s simple to see why! A hardly any weeks ago, he was one of 39 senators who voted to ban the practice entirely, in an effort that was ultimately unsuccessful.
Of direction, as I’ve already documented, many of the human beings who have extended complained about earmarks, who have targeted the practice as a key method of reining in spending, and who made the banning of the earmark practice a central promise of their 2010 campaigns, have been having second thoughts lately. Maybe some earmarks are excellent. Maybe all we demand is a fresh designation for the earmarks. Maybe we could just earmark when we’re outside at bars. I can stop whenever I desire!
Well, surely “Huge, terrible John” is standing on firm ground, unshakable in his conviction that the practice needs to end. Here’s Cornyn on Fox News, with Bill Hemmer, Wednesday morning:
HEMMER: My following guest says Washington still does not get it, Senator John Cornyn is on the senate budget committee, he’s live on the hill. Excellent morning to you. We were told yesterday this is a total mess and that, quote, all hell is breaking loose. Is that fair?
CORNYN: Well, yes. I reckon human beings are just so profoundly shocked that here we are, a year after we jammed through Harry Reid and the democratic majority, jammed through a $2.7 trillion health attention bill and we know what’s come of that, that they’re dropping this 2000 sheet, $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill that no one has had a chance to see until yesterday, and the more we see it the less there is to like about it, and it’s just — to me it is completely tone-deaf as John McCain said, after coming off this election when the American human beings said very clearly that this runaway Washington spending and this unsustainable debt were unacceptable and they’re sending fresh human beings in come January 5th to represent them bigger than the human beings who are leaving. So it’s really shocking, and it’s disrespectful.
Off to a excellent commence, I’d affirm! However there’s a twist!
HEMMER: Senator Dan Inouye outside of Hawaii, a Democrat, on the appropriations committee, I believe, he has a abundance of affirm in the handling of the money here, he says tens of thousands of questions have been questioned, they’ve place a year’s worth of employment into this. He’s also requested $159 million in defense spending earmarks, according to a release from the pentagon. Immediately, you yourself have questioned for earmarks, also, according to this list, some 16 million for your house state. Can you defend that, senator?
CORNYN: Well, I believe I can. However I’m not going to, since I’m going to ballot against this bill. This is just — the Republican conference, all Republican senators, voted for a two-year earmark moratorium so we can fix this broken system, as we try to come to an agreement on how to control the debt, and to embrace some of the recommendations of the fiscal commission. So I am for voting this bill down, much though it could arguably aid some of my constituents.
However my earmarks are the excellent kind! And I could really defend them if I had to. However I’m not going to, not after months and months of going on and on and on about how the earmark practice needs to be finished.
HEMMER: However you affirm — however you favor earmarks is what you’re saying.
CORNYN: I do not. I reckon we demand an earmark moratorium which I voted for two years, until we fix this broken system, since it’s become a symbol.
I sort of reckon that the constant pledge to ban earmarks is the body that’s become a symbol of the broken system. I wouldn’t be at surprised if Bill Hemmer was just confused by this whole conversation.
HEMMER: However I’m confused, then, why there 16 million in requests listed from you here? Is that not fair?
CORNYN: Early on in the year, I did request earmarks that I reckon are individually defensible, and if we had a debate on the floor I reckon I could exhibit how they aid our men and women in uniform fight.
However everyone is just going to reckon that their personal requests are individually defensible, just not on teevee, where someone might see.
At any rate, it’s been two extended years of the GOP obstructing bills and complaining about spending, and then watching the same obstructionists and complainers turning encircling to capture credit for the money that got spent. Matt Yglesias has a solution:
.bbpBox15050559220359168 {background:url(http://s.twimg.com/a/1292292026/images/themes/theme1/bg.png) #C0DEED;padding:20px;} p.bbpTweet{background:#fff;padding:10px 12px 10px 12px;margin:0;min-height:48px;color:#000;font-amount:18px !vital;border-height:22px;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata{exhibit:block;width:100%;clear:both;margin-top:8px;padding-top:12px;height:40px;border-top:1px solid #fff;border-top:1px solid #e6e6e6} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author{border-height:19px} p.bbpTweet span.metadata span.author img{float:left;margin:0 7px 0 0px;width:38px;height:38px} p.bbpTweet a:hover{words-decoration:underline}p.bbpTweet span.timestamp{font-amount:12px;exhibit:block} Dems should commence stripping earmarks requested by GOP Senators who are whining about the omnibus. No ballot, no pork.less than a minute ago via TweetDeckmattyglesiasmattyglesias
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