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AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid holds a copy of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010.
Published Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 | 1:39 p.m.
Updated Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 | 1:40 p.m.
Sun Coverage
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had a message for his antagonists today. To Republicans: stop being such hypocrites. To the White House: stay out of my Congress.
“I do not want to give up more power to the White House, whether it's George Bush or Barack Obama, and I'm going to fight as hard as I can against President Obama on these earmarks, and my Republican colleagues who hate to vote for them but love to get them,” Reid said.
The latest break down between Reid and Obama – and Republican party leaders, with whom the administration has taken to striking deals with lately — is cropping up over a dispute about funding the government.
Congress has to pass a federal budget by Saturday night at midnight or the government will go dark, just as it did in 1995, when a Newt Gingrich-led House reached an impasse with then-President Clinton.
This time, the fight is in the Senate, where Republicans are leading a charge against the bill because of “earmark” spending — funding for line items inserted into the federal budget at the behest of individual members of Congress.
Lawmakers have been railing against earmarks as a marker of congressional clout and largesse for as long as there have been appropriations bills, but the refrain has been a nationwide rallying cry for Republicans, and especially those of the Tea Party strain, since 2008, when then-presidential contender John McCain railed against earmarks as a way to rein in government spending.
While top party leaders and appropriators do get significant financial mileage out of earmarks for their home districts — Reid successfully requested about $250 million in the 2011 omnibus bill, and Appropriations Committee heads Daniel Inouye, Democrat from Hawaii, and Thad Cochran, Republican from Mississippi, ended up pulling about $420 million and $560 million respectively — earmarks are a drop in the budgetary bucket.
The $2.2 billion in earmarked items add up to about 0.2 percent of the total $1.1 trillion federal budget.
But White House sources have been telling reporters they wished the bill did not have “earmarks” in it, though they also say the alternative — funding a short-term continuing resolution at present budget levels — isn’t satisfactory either.
That had Reid seeing red Thursday.
“I can't accept the fact that people are saying 'why should we vote for this, it's got congressionally directed spending in it' — that's our job, that's what we're supposed to do,” he said.
Taking a maroon leather-bound copy of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution out of his pocket, he continued, calling out not just the president for trying to strong-arm lawmakers out of their congressional authority, but also those lawmakers who are trying to disown their pork, but eat it too.
“You can’t have it both ways. You can all look it up in the dictionary yourself, but I bet that if you went to ‘H’ in the dictionary and found ‘hypocrite’, under that would be people who ask for earmarks but vote against them,” Reid said.
He didn’t name him by name, but one Republican who would fall into that category is Reid’s co-senator from Nevada, Republican John Ensign.
Ensign has taken up the crusade of reducing spending in Washington spearheaded by ultra-conservative Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, even withholding a vote for the tax bill — despite the fact it had the tax cuts he’s been angling for for months — because nothing in the bill was offset by cuts elsewhere to the federal budget.
Ensign’s been saying he wants to bring the budget down to 2008 levels. But that conviction did not keep him from signing onto just shy of $85 million in earmark requests in the 2011 budget — which he now is indicating he plans to vote against.
“I’ve not yet heard any of these folks, once they get an earmark that they asked for but didn’t vote for, I’ve not heard any of them ask to rescind it,” Reid said.
Reid characterized such lawmakers as “mean-spirited.” When asked if calling Republicans hypocrites could be construed as equally mean-spirited, he shrugged, and with a half-grin, said: “could be.”
Reid also reiterated a threat made earlier this week to keep Congress in session past Christmas.
“I don’t know if I’ll bring it up before Christmas, but before this Congress ends, we’re going to ... determine a vote on the START treaty, the DREAM Act, 'Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,' 9/11, and hopefully we can reach an agreement on nominations,” he said. “We are in session, if necessary, up to January fifth.”
Since there’s been brandishing of Constitutions today, a note for the scholars and purists: it’s true, the Constitution — specifically, the 20th Amendment — does say that new Congresses have to start at noon on Jan. 3rd. But it also says that Congress can change that by law.
And that’s just what it did last month. Both houses of Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 40, a Reid-sponsored measure that made the convening day for the 112th Congress Jan. 5th. Obama signed it into law on the last day of November.
So that means Reid could keep Congress in session until 11:59 a.m., Eastern Standard Time, on the fifth of January.
From the Republican Party:
Thank you God for helping Reid get re-elected.
He is priceless come 2012.
Quoting the Constitution to defend earmarks....can't ask for a better poster boy for earmarks.
Thanks
Are we sure that's really a copy of the Declaration of Independce? Looks more like Mao's Little Red Book.
Give 'em hell Harry!
SgtRock, did you even read the article?
That book in his hand looks like it has never been opened, it's very unused looking.
Yup, the hypocrite republicans want to change the subject, but they're caught red-handed.
John Cornyn and John Thune gave a press conference in which Cornyn called the earmarks "an outrage" and "a profound disrespect for the American people."
John Thune cried, "It's loaded up with pork projects, and it shouldn't get a vote!"
Yeah!
Except both of them have dozens of earmarks in the bill!
Forbes reported that Thune had 32 earmarks, while Cornyn had a whopping 53 earmarks.
So they load it up with pork, and then vote against it because they loaded it up with pork!
Consistency is not a republican value. Nor is logic, apparently.
HYPOCRITES.
Where was Sgt James F Nance Jr Rock a month ago when Senator Inhofe, a republican, made the same argument?
"Inhofe's office distributed fliers that labeled the earmark issue as "phony" and, citing Article 1, Section 9 of the House rules, the Senator described appropriations as part of the job of elected officials. "This is very critical," he said. "We are supposed to authorize and appropriate. To take an oath not to do that is contrary to the office we hold."
http://okcfriday.com/inhofe-defends-earm...
Leading Conservative Senator: Congress Has a Right, and Duty, to Earmark
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, named the most conservative senator of 2009 by the National Journal, told CNSNews.com he intends to lead a new effort to defend earmarking.
Whoops, the poster boy for defending earmarks is a REPUBLICAN! The guy the Nation Journal called the most conservative Senator!
Sgt Nance loses again.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010...
The biggest hypocrite is from right here and his name is Harry Reid. The real problem, there is nothing in that bill to fix Nevada's current problems...
Hey Harry, it's not your Congress, it's the peoples.
Tom, the "Most Conservative Senator" James Inhofe agrees with Reid. It's the republicans who larded up the bill and then turn around and clutch their pearls that the bill is larded up with pork that are the hypocrites.
Ensign is definitely a hypocrite on this, as are most of the tea party caucus, who added in over a billion in earmarks.
One way to help cut back on some of this outrageous spending is to start plastering the idiots name, face and pork line items in the local papers available to the public. They don't seem to care about asking for billions of dollars to fund some ridiculous local project because there is never any ownership as to who requested it. Hold these dopes feet to the fire and see what happens.
It is just a gimmick by a washed up senile old goat by the name of McCain..
cutting earmarks...it's like going to the donut shop eating 12 donuts and putting non fat milk in your coffee to cut back on calories...
"Hey Harry, it's not your Congress, it's the peoples."
That's why Harry is returning the "peoples" taxes back to the "peoples", instead of wasting it on drug lords in Afghanistan.
Come 2012......Harry Reid....poster boy for budget busting earmarks.
Thank you.....thank you......thank you.....
What don't you people get? Pork accounted for 0.2 percent of the budget! It's the wars in the middle east and other waste this country can't afford!
Reid is actually right about the Senates constitutional duty which should not be abrogated.
Commerical in 2012....Reid...Democrats...saying....it just 10 or 40 billion dollars....that is nothing.
It is just pennies.
I find it interesting that Sen Reid has a copy of the constitution with him. However, I dont think he has read it lately, or maybe just the ones that he finds convienent. He allowed a tax bill to originate in the Senate when the Constitution states that all bills for raising revenue SHALL originate in the House of Representitives (Article 1 Section 7.) Maybe the Speaker should tell Sen Reid to, "Stay out of my House!"
I read this earlier today in the Sun....
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/dec...
Who is the hypocrite when Harry himself and the other parts of the Nevada delegation asked for a whopping 225 million???
News Flash! Reading the Las Vegas Sun drains Las Vegas residents Thinking ability.
Must see my union rep as soon as possible, to see if Reid got our earmark,....oh ah i mean our contribution.
He withdrew it all anyway, he doesn't have the stroke anymore. Nevada elected the wrong guy....
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/...
It's the beginning of the end for the GOOD OLE BOYS CLUB. Yes Mr Reid. We know they can be just as corrupted as you are Sir.
Keep giving these republican morons
HELL, HARRY.
HARRY REID IS THE MAN.
No figgy pudding for the Republicants! Harry's gonna ruin their Christmas by making them stay in session.
Hahahahaha! Get to work Republicants!
Oh, by the way. 'Bout time we see a Democrat pulling the "wave the pocket copy of the Constitution" stunt. Take that you sanctimonious nutjobs!
Give 'em Hell, Harry Reid! Let the hypocrits have it good!
Earmarks should be for dumbocrat districts only.
That doesn't make any sense either.
I remember when Bush won his 2nd term... He was off the rails with political ego...
Harry Mason Reid is also suffering this euphoria. This comes from the shock that the people gave you another chance - despite your belief there was no way you would/could get another term in office.
And here we sit - America divided between which idiot deserves the vote. My team versus your team mentality - The DNC jerseys and the GOP jerseys - worn by the soccer moms, teachers, union workers - too blind to see ALL this driftwood must go!
Anyone else notice what Senator Reid is holding up? That's the Cato Institute's own Pocket Constitution. The pic above is front and center @ http://www.cato.org/
And it's not "leather-bound."
"Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rulemaking or legislation which would abrogate them." -- Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 491 (1966)
This DOLT is the pure definition of incompetent but hey you guys voted him in one more time so live with the imbecile another 6 years.
Thanks for the heads up about the 112th Congress beginning session on January 5.
An amazing fact is that to the newly elected Senators who have their newly polished best movie star teeth with them, this will not change their thinking nor their responsibility to their country and to their voters and to their bank account.
The man in charge (that would be Harry Reid) waited until after the election, to start worrying about a budget they knew needed to be done back in October.
Did you happen to notice the burning sensation that the Constitution had while it was being held in Harry's hand? I'm sure he didn't hold that very long.