CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– APPROPRIATIONS
Feb. 26, 2009 – 4:29 p.m.
Congress to Erase Obama’s Name From Earmark
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
Congress will scrub President Obama’s name from a list of earmark cosponsors in the $410 billion omnibus spending bill.
The reason: Whether Obama cosponsored the earmark depends on what the definition of earmark is and when an earmark becomes an earmark, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The provision itself is still considered an earmark, and it’s staying in the bill (
As of Thursday, Obama’s name appeared along with three dozen other senators as a cosponsor of a $7.7 million line item for vocational training at two schools run by American Indian groups in New Mexico and North Dakota.
The White House objected to the characterization of the provision as an earmark — a sensitive topic, given that Obama said he didn’t request any earmarks in 2008.
Subsequently, Senate Appropriations Committee spokesman Rob Blumenthal said Obama’s name would be removed from future versions of the congressional report identifying earmarks and their sponsors. Other senators listed with him as cosponsors will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
How It Happened
According to Blumenthal, the public record and a private letter from senators to the Appropriations Committee, this is how Obama was identified as an earmark cosponsor:
• In April 2008, Obama was one of numerous senators who wrote a letter requesting more funding for Perkins Career and Technical Education programs that were due for a cut under President George W. Bush ’s budget.
• The tribally controlled schools were funded through a program within the Perkins CTE that Bush had targeted. They were not singled out for funding in the letter, but the Appropriations Committee concluded that the tribal program was among the priorities of the senators who signed the letter.
On the sole basis of that letter, the committee later assigned sponsorship of the earmark to those 37 senators.
“While we understand that the subcommittee has limited resources for many competing priorities, we believe the funding for the Carl D. Perkins Center and Technical Education program should be increased to restore previous cuts and keep pace with inflation, rising enrollments and new program requirements,” the senators, including Obama, wrote.
The program within Perkins that funded the tribally controlled schools made the two schools in North Dakota and New Mexico eligible for money without mentioning them by name.
• When the Appropriations subcommittee that funds education programs drafted its bill, the panel included money for the schools by funding their program.
While money had gone to just the two schools for several years, the justification for considering their funding “programmatic” rather than an earmark was that the individual schools weren’t mentioned by name.
• Later in 2008, a major education law (PL 110-315) moved the tribally controlled schools program out of the jurisdiction of the Perkins Act and did identify the two schools by name.
• With the new law naming the two schools on the books, the Appropriations Committee determined the program qualified as an earmark.
When putting the omnibus together, the committee was required to list the sponsors and cosponsors of every earmark. For this one, they based their sponsorship list on the original April letter.
“The new authorization identifies particular schools, making the program an earmark. However, the new authorization also moves the program out of the Perkins Act and into the Higher Education Act. Since then-Sen. Obama requested funding for the Perkins Act, he did not request the earmark,” Blumenthal said.
Splitting Hairs?
It’s all semantics, says Tom Schatz, head of the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.
Writing to the Appropriations Committee and asking for an increase over the president’s budget for even a broad program, such as Perkins, is a request for “pork” in Schatz’s book. “They’re just parsing words,” he said.
The committee, which jealously guards its prerogative over the purse, sees it differently, of course.
And the president, who made great political hay out of his decision not to seek earmarks in the fiscal 2009 appropriations bills, clearly doesn’t think the original request constituted an earmark.
The committee now agrees — sort of.
That provision is still an earmark, but not for Obama.
As for the other senators who signed the letter, Blumenthal said they would be judged on a case-by-case basis.
“The committee will review each member’s original request letter and take the appropriate action,” he said.
Schatz said the entire chain of events shows why Congress should let the public see bills earlier in the process.
“How many ‘accidental’ earmarks are there?” he said.
Comments
an earmark is an earmark is an earmark. so much for THAT campaign promise...lol! http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1518064/what_me_earmark.html?singlepage=true&cat=75
Sounds like Obama is a typical democrat. He, like Clinton, talk out both sides of their mouth. They (democrats) keep talking about the Bush Admin., but in actuality, it is Congress who has us in this mess. Congress writes the bills, fills them with pork, and them votes to pass the bills. Yes, president can veto, but president didn't write to begin with. Congress is to blame. Both Democrats and Repubs.
IT's TRUE...HE's "crooked" as they come...people are right about Him!...WHY did I ever vote for Him? ...us HIPPIES and LIBERALS are going to pay the price!
This administration is becoming quite a joke. Anything goes so the end can be justified. FRAUD, look it up - deceit, trickery, and my personal favorite... intentional perversion. Stuff like this is bad enough, but what really bothers me is the fact that 95% of the people will never hear about what really goes on - thanks to CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, FOX, etc. When does somebody with a voice finally get a set of onions and stands up to share these little tidbits?
Obama has taken over lst place as a greater sophist than Hitler!! He and Pelosi have the most specious stimulus plan in the history of the world. And now we and our children and our children's children pay and pay and pay. Congrat Liberals. You have undone everything the men that formed our Nation prayed and worked to archive.
This is just the beginning. Obama is rushing to make as many changes as he can before people start realizing what's going on and question what he's actually trying to do. He'll break all of his campaign promises, but don't worry - he's a lawyer and knows exactly how to explain away his actions so that it sounds like he didn't really break his promises. The same way that Clinton didn't really consider what he did as "sex".
Of The People, By The People and For The People, as stated in the Constitution; however, it is now Of the Goverment, By the Government and For the Government. I thought that the Government swore to uphold the Constitution when the President and each Congressman was sworn into office. This means that they promised to work for the people who put them in office; well, they are not doing their jobs with impunity and delibertly failing to uphold their oaths. Therefore, they are not fit for office, and by their spending frenzy that is not only fraudlent but a felonous offense, the President should be impeached immediately and all the felonous Congressmen should be re-called. It is up to the duty of each Traditional American to bombard their offices with emails, faxes, mail and telephone calls for an extended period of time to let them know that we are coming after them. If enough harassment is bestowed upon them, just maybe a seed will be planted in their meager brains that their time in office will soon be over or they are gonna be out of here. This insanity must stop - it has to stop or our great Sovereign Republic will be over. I am in the Autumn of my life so it is not me who is going to feel much of the impact, but you who have the strength and bulldog tenacity must take charge and mildy threaten or promise these sad sack bums that they will not be able to utilize the stolen millions of taxpayer money for their retiring days in the sun - they will be eating day-old lettuce like the rest of us poorer older folks sooner than they think. Just my opinion but I hope it will come true soon with your help.
Of The People, By The People and For The People, as stated in the Constitution; however, it is now Of the Goverment, By the Government and For the Government. I thought that the Government swore to uphold the Constitution when the President and each Congressman was sworn into office. This means that they promised to work for the people who put them in office; well, they are not doing their jobs with impunity and delibertly failing to uphold their oaths. Therefore, they are not fit for office, and by their spending frenzy that is not only fraudlent but a felonous offense, the President should be impeached immediately and all the felonous Congressmen should be re-called. It is up to the duty of each Traditional American to bombard their offices with emails, faxes, mail and telephone calls for an extended period of time to let them know that we are coming after them. If enough harassment is bestowed upon them, just maybe a seed will be planted in their meager brains that their time in office will soon be over or they are gonna be out of here. This insanity must stop - it has to stop or our great Sovereign Republic will be over. I am in the Autumn of my life so it is not me who is going to feel much of the impact, but you who have the strength and bulldog tenacity must take charge and mildy threaten or promise these sad sack bums that they will not be able to utilize the stolen millions of taxpayer money for their retiring days in the sun - they will be eating day-old lettuce like the rest of us poorer older folks sooner than they think. Just my opinion but I hope it will come true soon with your help.dharts
Just goes to show that the Messiah is full of himself. What a disgrace.
Michelle did just visit some Indian reservations. I GUESS THIS IS PAYBACK FOR YOUR GIFT THEY GAVE HER. OBAMA IS A HYPOCRITE. CRONYISM IS RUNNING WILD IN HIS ADMINISTRATION.
Holy cow, what's with you people? It's not like there's nothing real to criticize...when you seize a bit of BS like this and act like it's a big deal (or a deal at all), you lose all credibility. An earmark (in the traditional objectionable sense) is generally an item that makes a politician look good to his constituents back home (like, say, a bridge to nowhere). Do you really think that the folks in Illinois are any more interested in Native American schools in NM and ND than any other Americans are? I don't. So I don't see how this could be considered an earmark. He saw that W. cut off funding for an important program, and joined with a bunch of other senators to suggest that it be restored. What exactly do you think they're SUPPOSED to be doing out there?
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