DO YOU WANT SOME CHEESE WITH THAT WHINE CONGRESSMAN DICKS?...OR WILL THE $5.85 MILLION IN EARMARKS DO?

Debbie from Right Truth (major Hat Tip) forwarded to me an e-mail from Club for Growth which included a lot of great info including the link to the Committee Report to accompany HR 2643 detailing all the earmarks included in 110th Congress DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATION BILL, 2008.

While the 14 pages of earmarks was certainly edifying, what I found most interesting was the text on the last page of the report by Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) where he basically said “Well the President does it too." It seems that all the efforts of Republican Congressmen, “Leaders in the Fight” and outraged citizens have left Congressman Dicks feeling a bit defensive. Taxpayers for Common Sense in their analysis of the report would seem to have discovered why.

”As is invariably the case, the spoils went to the majority party, and especially to members of the Interior appropriations subcommittee. Chairman Norm Dicks (D-WA) was the biggest winner with $5.85 million in projects, including $150,000 for the Bremerton Public Library.” Full analysis of the report by TCS is available here.

I have included the full text of the report below. My editorial comments are included in italics.

Trackposted to Right Pundits, Perri Nelson's Website, Committees of Correspondence, DeMediacratic Nation, Big Dog's Weblog, Maggie's Notebook, DragonLady's World, Stuck On Stupid, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Pirate's Cove, High Desert Wanderer, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Executive and Legislative Branch Projects (Earmarks).

Compliance with Rules of the House. -- The list of projects provided above is
submitted in compliance with clause 9 of Rule XXI of the Rules of the House
Representatives, which requires publication of a complete list of projects included in the bill which result principally from requests of Members of the House Of Representatives. (As opposed to coming from say, the Departments of Interior and Environment where they should.) In addition the list includes projects of a similar character which are funded in the bill and which have been requested in the President's Budget for fiscal year 2008. (Of course first, there is no requirement in House rules, for Executive Branch funding requests to be included in the report and second, as noted the requests were included in the President’s Budget for F/Y 2008 which is published and available for inspection long before the appropriations process begins.)
Projects.- The Committee notes that the Congress has made significant reforms
in the way it reviews funding for the Federal government reforms which the
Committee takes very seriously as it executes its constitutional authority: Earmarking or Directed spending of Federal dollars does not begin with Congress. It begins with the Executive Branch. Despite what a Democratic Controlled Congress committee report says, no, Administative Directed Spending is NOT the same. The Federal Agencies involved are all within the Executive Branch and their job is to direct specific funding. For example, the list included above lists 92 specific land acquisition or construction projects which have been submitted by the Administration. The Administration, in selecting these projects, goes through a process that is the functional equivalent of earmarking. When the Committee reviews the budget request, it goes through a process of rigorous review and may alter or modify this list to reflect additional priorities. (Note that it says additional priorities but no mention of striking items that are not priorities.)

Contractors. -- The Executive Branch also engages in another practice which
steers or directs money to specific entities or purposes through a process of contracting out various activities and services. In many important work locations, the number of people working for contractors exceeds the number of Federal employees in the same building or location. Many of these, in fact, are non-competitive or sole-sourced. When added together, the Executive Branch steers or directs far greater spending to specific projects or corporations than is directed or earmarked by Congress. (Of course, directing spending is actually the job of Federal Agencies not Congress.) And the practice of non-competitive contracting has exploded in the past five years. For example, the Department of the Interior reported to the Committee that the value of Contracts awarded through processes that were "not fully and openly competitive" increased from $26 million in 2000 to $167 million 2005.
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WELCOME TO - AZAMATTEROPRINCIPLE

Welcome to Azamatteroprinciple. It is a new site in collaboration with AZAMATTEROFACT but is solely dedicated to eliminating congressional earmarks and wasteful spending by providing information and resources to the public to help them keep informed about "Earmarks", "Government Spending", "Related Legislation" and "News Reports and Blogs/Web Resources". There are already great sites and organizations such as PORKBUSTERS, OMB WATCH, CITIZENS AGAINST GOVERNMENT WASTE, THE SUNLIGHT FOUNDATION and others which are accessible from the right sidebar who have long been LEADERS IN THE FIGHT.

WELCOME TO AZAMATTEROPRINCIPLE CONTINUED...

The aim of AZAMATTEROPRINCIPLE is to be a site that combines and hopefully strengthens these efforts by bringing information together, private and government research resources, as well as relevant research and news sources. (See STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.)

"Spending on the troops at a time of war, no problem. But $1.5 million to a liquor store in Los Angeles? Or $1.4 million to a car wash in Anaheim, Calif.? How about $1.1 million to a pizza shop, $1.5 million to a wine institute, and $227,000 to a strawberry commission?"

No. They don’t make sense to me either.

First I suggest that visitors go to Porkbusters.org and sign up for their effort to help Rep. David Obey (D-WI) Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee get through the 30,000+ existing earmark requests.

I would also encourage visitors to go to LLRX.com “Law and Technology Resources for Legal Professionals” which, in spite of the name contains a treasure trove of information and explanations regarding “The Government Domain: Tracking Federal Dollars.”

One of the key elements of Azametteroprinciple is that it provides numerous SEARCHABLE DATABASES so users can gain information on specific areas of interest to them. For information on other resource links please click on “USING THIS SITE” in the top right corner of the sidebar.

The site will be updated with current news articles and papers related to earmarks and Federal Spending so please check back frequently.

Finally, as the point of this site is to be a comprehensive source of information and resources, please feel free to e-mail me with links to other blogs, relevant articles, research papers and on-line resources that you would like to see included to make the site better.

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