Legal Commentary

Senate Republicans Stall Passage of Economy Bill

By Jeralyn

Senate Republicans last night stalled the passage of the Omnibus Appropriations Act.

Senate Republicans, demanding the right to try to change a huge spending bill, forced Democrats on Thursday night to put off a final vote on the measure until next week. The surprise development will force Congress to pass a stopgap funding bill to avoid a partial shutdown of the government.

...Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., canceled the vote, saying he was one vote short of the 60 needed to close debate and free the bill for President Barack Obama's signature.

The Republicans insisted on voting on their amendments, all of which were expected to fail. Thanks to the Senate's Twitter page, you can view the votes. And here at GovTrack, you can click through to the Amendments. [More...]

The huge, 1,132-page spending bill awards big increases to domestic programs and is stuffed with pet projects sought by lawmakers in both parties. The measure has an extraordinary reach, wrapping together nine spending bills to fund the annual operating budgets of every Cabinet department except for Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

....And, to the embarrassment of Obama — who promised during last year's campaign to force Congress to curb its pork-barrel ways — the bill contains 7,991 pet projects totaling $5.5 billion, according to calculations by the GOP staff of the House Appropriations Committee.

Among the earmarks:

There's $190,000 for the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo., $238,000 to fund a deep-sea voyaging program for native Hawaiian youth, agricultural research projects, and grants to local police departments, among many others.

....Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa...backed $1.7 million for pig odor research. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., promised $3.8 million to preserve and redevelop part of old Tiger Stadium to help revitalize a distressed area of Detroit.

We're in a recession bordering on a depression and Harkin wants money for pig odor research?

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 06, 2009 (boomark / email).