[antimedia] antimedia: Business as usual....

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Posted by antimedia:
Business as usual....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1202522594.shtml


   ....seems to be the rule of the day for House Democrats.

     The Hill Report
     A Weekly Newsletter from Congressman Pete Sessions
     Week of February 4 â February 8, 2008
     This week in Washington, House Republicans forced a vote on
     considering a proposal to require an immediate moratorium on
     earmarks until comprehensive earmark reform is implemented.
     Led by Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Whip Roy
     Blunt (R-MO), my colleagues and I used a parliamentary procedure on
     Thursday to bring a vote on moving forward with legislation
     (H.Con.Res.263) that I have cosponsored to create a Joint Committee
     on Earmark Reform and conduct a comprehensive study of earmark
     practices by the House, Senate and Executive Branch. After
     completing the study, the Joint Committee would then file a report
     of its findings and recommendations. Additionally, an immediate
     moratorium on the consideration of all earmarks would be enacted
     until this report was concluded.
     Unfortunately, 204 Democrats voted against the opportunity to
     advance effective earmark reform, defeating the measure which had
     the unanimous support of 189 Minority Party members as well as 7
     Majority Party members.
     These efforts in earmark reform follow an attempt last month by
     Minority Party leaders to engage House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
     and other Majority Party leadership in a serious, bipartisan
     moratorium on earmarks. On January 25th, Minority Leader Boehner
     and eight other Members sent Speaker Pelosi a letter, asking her to
     join House Republicans in our efforts to reform the earmark process
     and eliminate wasteful spending. Unfortunately, but not
     surprisingly, Speaker Pelosi sent a belated reply in which she
     refused to join the my colleagues and me in our earmark reform
     initiative.
     Before becoming the Majority Party in Congress last year, many
     Democrats vowed to make congressional earmark reform a priority.
     Yet given the chance to deliver on their promises, only a mere
     handful of Members have followed through. I am hopeful that the
     Majority will rethink their decision to deny this much-needed
     initiative for earmark reform, and I call on them once again to
     join my colleagues and me in implementing effective earmark reform.

   Unfortunately, the Republicans, when they were in power, acted exactly
   the same way, so their actions now need to be followed up aggressively
   for me to believe that they are completely serious about reform and
   not just playing political games.
   Tags: [1]Congress [2]earmarks [3]reform

References

   1. http://technorati.com/tag/Congress
   2. http://technorati.com/tag/earmarks
   3. http://technorati.com/tag/reform