Business as Usual

[Gordon B]

Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake Fights Pork, Loses
By Robert Novak
Jun 19, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Jeff Flake, a 44-year-old third-term Republican congressman from Mesa, Ariz., last Wednesday burnished his credentials as "Miss Uncongeniality" in the House of Representatives. He introduced 12 amendments to the Transportation-Treasury-HUD appropriations bill removing earmarks of individual House members, including two by chief appropriator Jerry Lewis. All of Flake's efforts failed.

That brought to 26 earmarks unsuccessfully proposed by Flake for removal from appropriations bills since May 24. There was no close vote and no serious debate. Republican and Democratic leaders alike voted to preserve earmarks. Ironically, the House Budget Committee on Wednesday approved a line-item veto enabling President Bush to eliminate earmarks.

Why would Republican leaders who vote for earmarks support the line-item veto? One explanation is that the presidential veto may lose on the floor Thursday. But even if it survives, would Bush risk antagonizing lawmakers who dispose of his spending requests? He could be caught up in the climate of intimidation causing House members to vote against Flake's amendments for fear their districts will be deprived of federal largesse. This is classic logrolling that started in the 19th century.

Flake last week asked why taxpayers nationwide should be levied $1.5 million for the William Faulkner Museum in Oxford, Miss., (affirmed in a voice vote) or $250,000 to turn the Strand Theater in Plattsburgh, N.Y., into a performing arts center (affirmed 366 to 61). Rep. Joe Knollenberg of Michigan, the Appropriations "cardinal" (subcommittee chairman), in floor debate voiced his committee's mantra: "We say that we know better than federal officials and bureaucrats ... where to spend money."

While Flake had dozens of earmarks he could challenge on the floor, he chose two submitted by Appropriations Committee Chairman Lewis: $500,000 for swimming pool renovations in Banning, Calif. (affirmed 365 to 61), and $500,000 for a Crafton Hills College athletic facility in Yucaipa, Calif. (affirmed 368 to 58).

On the day before these votes, Lewis was reported by Roll Call newspaper to have hired a Los Angeles white-collar criminal lawyer, Robert Bonner, to represent him in a federal investigation of his connection with a lobbying firm specializing in congressional earmarks. That did not inhibit Lewis from taking the House floor to browbeat Flake with the appropriators' theme song: "(Flake) seems to have much more confidence in bureaucrats downtown than he has in the members of the House."

On the day after these votes, reform Republicans in Congress were startled by a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, based on research by the Sunlight Foundation, that House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert earned $2 million by the 2005 sale of land he purchased in 2004. Hastert last July earmarked $207 million as the first appropriation for the proposed Prairie Parkway, located 5.5 miles from the property purchased by the speaker.

Earmarks increasingly are the source of corruption and ethical transgressions on both sides of the aisle in Congress. Yet the cardinals defend the practice, which has grown exponentially during the 12-year Republican majority. They argue that their constituents want pork, not reform.

The authentic prevailing congressional attitude toward reform was expressed by a Democrat who often is less discreet than his colleagues. The Sun Gazette newspaper in Northern Virginia reported that Rep. Jim Moran told a party dinner June 9 in his district, "When I become (a House Appropriations subcommittee) chairman, I'm going to earmark the s--t out of it."

There are Republican lawmakers less enthusiastic about earmarks than Moran who vote against the Flake amendments to keep their districts from losing federal funding. Appropriators stalk the House, taking names of colleagues who dare disrupt logrolling. Every time, however, a coterie in the House votes against pork. Their ranks include conservative reformers Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Mike Pence of Indiana, John Shadegg of Arizona and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. They can kiss goodbye goodies for their districts.

At Charlie Palmer's restaurant last Wednesday, assembled Republican campaign contributors cheered as John Boehner was introduced as the majority leader who never has sponsored an earmark. Later that day, Boehner voted against each of Flake's attempted earmark removals. In the House, one conservative reformer commented to another seated beside him, "With this leadership, we never will get rid of earmarks."

[walto]

That article provides a great explanation of why the line-item veto is so important. Individual legislators can't oppose log rolling without screwing their own districts and losing all chance of re-election. Executives, though, don't need to worry about that stuff: that's one reason why that branch (even with its horrid bureaucrats) is a more sensible place for distributional spending decisions to be made.

The piece also could make a nice section of brief on the benefit of term limits for the country at large.

[Gordon B]

Originally Posted by walto

That article provides a great explanation of why the line-item veto is so important. Individual legislators can't oppose log rolling without screwing their own districts and losing all chance of re-election. Executives, though, don't need to worry about that stuff: that's one reason why that branch (even with its horrid bureaucrats) is a more sensible place for distributional spending decisions to be made.

The piece also could make a nice section of brief on the benefit of term limits for the country at large.

LOL! You expect more out of Robert Novak than me but you are right about term limits. Do you think the typical President would use his line-item veto and risk losing legislators for bills he wants passed?



Here's more on Dem. Jim Moran from the Winds of Change Blog.

Jim Moran Just Keeps On Tracking Mud Into The House
by Armed Liberal at June 19, 2006 08:13 PM

Jim "the Joos" Moran (D-VA and several large banks) has been someone who's checkered career I've followed since 2002, when the news broke that he sponsored a precursor to the bad bankruptcy bill - four days after MBNA gave him a $447,000 debt-consolidation loan.

Wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall during the meetings with that lobbyist?

I'm already a reprobate Democrat in many people's eyes, and I'm genuinely sorry about that. I think of myself as a strong believer in Democratic values and have some small hope for the future of the party. But in this case, I'm going to step further off the reservation and ask people to go visit the site of Moran's opponent Tom O'Donoghue, the GOP candidate for the 8th CD seat in Virginia.

He's a veteran, and seems like a decent guy. It wouldn't hurt to toss a few bucks his way.

How can he be worse than Moran?

Why am I doing this?

Here's Moran's history, as I've blogged it.

Took $400K from MBNA and then sponsored a bad bankruptcy reform bill.

Blamed American Jews for the Iraq war.

Explained that if he got the chairmanship of Appropriations, he's "earmark the shit" out of the spending bills.

Today, Instapundit points to an undelivered weapons system that has cost $37 million dollars - with the strong support of Moran, delivered for a $17,000 contribution.

If you want to have some fun, go check out the goodbyejim.com site - it's got an astounding set of stories about Rep. Moran.

His wife is a real estate developer, seeking a HUD grant and financing - do you think she'll get it?

Now while he's probably among the worst in Congress, we ought to see some progress by the Democrats in cleaning their own house, right?
Wrong.

The time to criticize the Republicans’ “culture of corruption,” a Democratic refrain for nearly a year, is at an end, Pelosi said; Democrats need to begin promoting their own vision of America.

I'm going say that I called this one when I posted back in 2002:

WHY MY OSTENSIBLE PARTY, THE DEMOCRATS, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE BUSH'S CORPORATE HISTORY AGAINST HIM

So if they won't turn him out, it's up to the voters.

At some point, the Democratic Party leadership will get the idea that there's a market for genuine reform, and clean our house. I'll keep kicking them until they do. Want to help?

[walto]

LOL! You expect more out of Robert Novak than me

I don't know what you mean by that. I don't have very high expectations of Novak at all.

Do you think the typical President would use his line-item veto and risk losing legislators for bills he wants passed?

I don't think that's an issue for Presidents. If votes on a close matter are a concern, he can gain three or four for everyone he loses by how he spreads the goods around. Executives don't have to log roll: in fact the concept doesn't really make sense with respect to them. But, as I already said, legislators have little choice. Most of them have to play that inane game or go bye-bye real fast.

[Gordon B]

Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas proposed a compromise on Estate Taxes. I'm posting it here because of the tidbit at the end. That's how business is done.
Source: Greg Mankiw's blog.

Last night, Thomas introduced a bill, Committee on Ways and Means H.R. 5638, the Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act of 2006. Here are some details:

* Increased Estate and Gift Tax Exemption: The Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act of 2006 would increase the exemption amount to $5 million per person effective January 1, 2010.
* Lower Estate and Gift Tax Rates: The Permanent Estate Tax Relief Act of 2006 would reduce the rate of tax on estates up to $25 million to the capital gains tax rate (currently 15 percent, set to increase to 20 percent in 2011 unless extended).
* The bill would reduce the rate of tax on estates of $25 million or more to twice the capital gains rate (currently 30 percent, set to increase to 40 percent in 2011 unless extended).


Update: Today's Wall Street Journal reports on the Thomas bill. It includes this tidbit:

To appeal to a few key Senate Democrats, Mr. Thomas included incentives for the timber industry. The legislation includes a new 60% deduction for qualified timber capital gains.

I think if a Presidential candidate exercised some leadership and pledged to put an end to special interest add-ons and earmarks predicated on a line-item veto authority that passed constitutional muster, he might find himself a winning issue.

Mark Warner are you listening? I think a Governor or former Governor, untainted by a congressional voting record, would be best positioned to run against log-rolling.