Posted by
Dawnsblood on Monday, January 22, 2007 6:20:33 PM
It is
coming in fits and starts but it is still coming along. My congratulations to the Senator.
Before the final vote on S. 1, to my delight the Senate adopted another
one of my amendments. This important amendment provides the means for
reformers to eliminate new earmarks to a conference report that were
not in either the House or Senate passed versions of the bill. This
practice has been a boondoggle for pork-hungry lawmakers in the past
because it allows pet projects to be quietly slipped into bills without
debate or the accountability of the committee process. The means to
stop these secretive earmarks is absolutely essential for the success
of reform efforts in Congress.
But the adoption of these two amendments is not nearly enough.
Congress still has plenty of work to do before we are out of the woods.
The way we spend the people’s money here in Washington needs to be
completely changed. We are starting to change it by overhauling the
earmarking process. On that front, we have another opportunity this
week to take one more step in the right direction.