WASHINGTON — The House was tied up in knots last week as Republicans and Democrats battled over earmarks, bringing floor debate to a near-halt for three days before the impasse was finally resolved.
Though Democrats took a public relations beating for trying to keep earmarks secret until the very final stages of drafting spending bills, Republicans were not exactly on the best footing for the fight considering their track record of filling spending bills with pet projects.
There's really only one reason why anybody but the most hardened C-SPAN viewer would care about this: The scuffle over pork-barrel spending will result in Americans getting a much better sense of which special projects their lawmakers are putting their muscle behind.
Want to see if your senator or congressman is trying to slip another infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" into a spending bill? Well, the House and Senate now say they'll make individual members' earmark requests public as they debate spending bills.
Turns out, some Texans in Congress already had beaten their colleagues to the punch in shining sunlight on the secretive process of funding pet projects.
Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, began posting all of his funding requests on his Web site about a year ago — making him one of the first members of Congress to do so, his staff says.
"We cannot give our constituents too much information about what we do because the government works best when people are fully informed," said Culberson, one of five Texans serving on the money-doling House Appropriations Committee.
Culberson has imposed several rules on himself: He won't request earmarks for companies or individuals, instead seeking special funding only for government agencies, universities, hospitals and research institutions.
A look at Culberson's requests to nine Appropriations subcommittees this year shows a major emphasis on space and medical research. He requested everything from a $1.5 billion budget increase for NASA to $295,000 for cardiac monitors for the Harris County Hospital District.
And Culberson's relentless focus on border security also is clear, with requests for $100 million to fund the Southwest Border Sheriff's Coalition. Then there are requests for $215 million for Metro for Houston rail and bus improvements.
Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, and Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, also are making their earmark requests public — in Green's case going so far as to include the letters lawmakers now are required to sign certifying they and their spouse have no financial interest in any of the projects.
"I don't have any problem releasing our earmark requests — I just wish I could get them granted," Green joked.
His list, totaling $289 million, includes everything from $125 million for Metro's light-rail expansion to $100,000 for flood damage control on Hall's Bayou.
Green is miffed at the revolt Republicans waged over the Democrat's approach to earmarks last week.
He dismissed "their sudden conversion from being earmark kings and emperors to wanting public scrutiny. They didn't do it when they were in the majority."
He's a Blue Dog
The group, formed in the mid-1990s by deficit-conscious Democrats, accepted Lampson and four others from a larger pool of applicants.
Lampson, who is sure to face a major re-election challenge next year, doubtless will use his Blue Dog membership to try to inoculate himself against Republican charges that he's too liberal for the 22nd District that Tom DeLay long represented.
Source : www.chron.com
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