Editorial: Pork and power in Washington

Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 | 12:31 p.m.

During his heyday as House majority leader, Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, was the Joe Louis of politics. His reputation as a powerful counterpuncher grew to the point where few dared to take a shot at him. Pretty much, in Congress anyway, DeLay got what he wanted.

But after his fall from leadership, precipitated by his indictment in his home state on campaign finance charges, it didn't take long for his aura to dissipate. He is still a representative, and he has even secured a position on the powerful Appropriations Committee, but his power to influence legislation and bring home the bacon has been severely diminished.

An example is the $500 million in federal funds that DeLay's influence had directed toward a company in his hometown of Sugar Land. President Bush and Congress heartily endorsed the funding, included in last year's energy bill and destined for research into deep-water oil and gas drilling. According to a report in the Boston Globe, the project was "heralded as a critical step in shaping a national energy policy and making the country less dependent on foreign oil."

Now that DeLay is no longer the DeLay of old, however, the Bush administration not only failed to include funding for the project in its 2007 budget, but is proposing to kill it outright, the newspaper reported.

The larger story here is that of a political system wherein those with muscle can direct significant amounts of funding toward pure pork. If the oil and gas research had really been essential, Bush, whose energy theme of late is to reduce the country's dependence on the Middle East, surely would have kept it in his budget. Tellingly, he would also, without doubt, have kept the project on track if DeLay was still calling the shots in the House.

This research project was another of those funding provisions that materialized in the dead of night, when no one was around to debate it. It is exactly this type of costly chicanery that resulted in the scandals perpetrated by ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff. If anyone needed an example of why last-minute, sneaky additions to funding bills need to be stopped, DeLay's canceled $500 million pet project would serve well.