Frustrating to right wingers: Democratic Congress better at ethics and earmarks

[Thorgrim]

*Note I don't entirely agree with this piece

Democrats last year actually approved fewer earmarks than Republicans did when they ran Congress.

And many Republicans remain very supportive of the controversial spending practice.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Congress did pass more than 11,000 earmarks last year at a cost north of $15 billion, according to data compiled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group.

Roughly 40 percent of that money was set aside for projects requested by Republicans, essentially the same amount that has gone to the minority party in most years.

Democrats claim the total number of earmarks is down 44 percent when compared with the Republican-controlled Congress in 2006.

That number is misleading, however, because it does not represent what was actually signed into law.

The actual reduction is much closer to 25 percent, says Steve Ellis of TCS.

...

And attempts by Bush and his conservative allies to turn them into a partisan issue will likely be muted by their own party’s history on the matter and their continued use of them.

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In fact, Shadegg said, the so-called Republican revolution actually made things worse, not better

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The number of earmarks jumped from 3,000 in 1995 to 15,000 in 2005.
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Earmarks are more visible than ever this year, the result of new rules introduced by the Democrats to open up the process.

The House requires lawmakers to claim their earmarks, explain what the money is for, how much is being allotted and name the company, nongovernmental organization or public agency that will benefit from the federal funds.

...

The new rules “get some of the junk out of the system. They increase accountability,” said Gerald Warburg, executive vice president of Cassidy & Associates and one of the deans of the appropriations game.

Members are more sensitive to the appearance of impropriety now, he said. Congressional leaders often engaged in so-called log-rolling, doling out earmarks as rewards to help get their bills passed.

“There was a lot of that going on two or three years ago, and there’s a lot less of that now,” he said

The inconvenient truth about earmarks - Samuel Loewenberg - Politico.com

Well Democrats are cleaning up town, and making big steps

Let's not kid ourselves, Rome wasn't built in a day

It really leads me to think, why on God's green earth would anyone vote back a Republican Congress? They ran on 1994 against more or less some 60 years of Democratic control, that once in power they'd get rid of all this DC spending (except the military), restore some christian morality to the process, blah blah

They were even worse, and Democrats really are doing a better job on every issue you can think of...which is why when you break down the "Congressional Approval" Democrats are viewed more favorably by 10-20 points

Say what you want about the Democrats, they certainly haven't given anyone a reason to vote Republican, which what everyone at Fox News desk during the funeral of the GOP Congress that occured that night two Novembers ago, said "Just imagine, speaker Pelosi...the Democrats will lose control go liberal, fail on doing one thing better, and set us up for 2008"

It certainly was a possibility, but it simply never happened

I remember 2006 very clearly, and there was a stark difference between Democrats complaining about "the party of fiscal responsibility is building a bridge to nowhere" and for the Democratic Party as a whole going "we are going to eliminate district spending" which is ridiculous and actually political suicide considering many Democrats come from poor urban districts that have much higher expenses than poor rural GOP districts yet even less government funds, and less business investment...that is the point of the article I disagree with

However, even though the article tilts to the right in my opinion, and is only dragged to fair because of the overwhelming non-partisan citations of the Democrats for helping the Hill...

There is no doubt, Democrats are on the march, cleaning up DC, not alienating moderates, and even with reduced hours they'll still work this cycle longer and harder than the GOP did, and try to get more done, even if it's filibustered/vetoed by the most obstructionist political party in history: GOP

[northhunter]

I for one am not frustrated at all. I care less about who cuts wastefull spending than the fact that it is indeed cut.