Dec 15 2009
Are over 5000 earmarks too many?
The House passed another omnibus 1000 plus page bill full of specially targeted earmarks. When is enough enough?
During a time that our deficit is growing at an unprecedented rate and our economy is suffering, the House yesterday passed the FY10 Omnibus Appropriations bill, by a vote of 221-202. The bill provides, among other things, massive funding increases for international family planning, domestic family planning, and condom promotion. We are in debt up to our eyeballs, living on a credit card, and hemorrhaging jobs.
. . .
This bill spends nearly half the discretionary portion of the federal budget on just six federal departments.
* It was debated for just one hour (that’s $7.4 billion spent per minute of debate).
* No one could possibly have read the entire bill before casting their vote. It was released from the Rules Committee Wednesday and Members and the public had just one day to review this 2,500 page, $446 billion dollar bill before yesterday’s scheduled vote. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah) writes about it.
