Earmarks becomes "Projects Initiated by a Member"

[itzamirakul]

Announced by one of the daily visiting editors on C-Span this morning. Legislators do not want to give up this privilege of getting their pork bills funded so they have changed the name of the process or programor whatever it is, to try to appease their constituents who want to see the operation stopped.

[Cosmocat]

1. Frankly ...

Earmarks are not the root problem ... It just is something that is surface level enough for people to get a hand on, and politicians to be able to make a sacrificial cow ...

Honestly, IF these clowns were doing it right, earmarks would not be a bad thing ... What happens with all the money congress releases without earmarkes - THE WHITE HOUSE/STATES GET TO CHOOSE WHAT IS DONE WITH IT ...

Is THAT a good thing right now ???

Earmarks, as long as there is REAL accountability and you can see what is going on with it, are not a bad thing ...

The root problem is money coming back to politicians ... If you took corporate/special interests campaign donations out of it, if you made is so that only private individuals and party pacs could donate to candidates, it would be a big first step in cleaning politics up ...

[itzamirakul]

2. I posted this topic because I thought it was kind of funny that

our lawmakers or lobbyists or both thought that a name change would make the situation just curl up and go away.

The thing that I find most offensive about earmarks or whatever they are called is that they seem to be tacked onto successful bills way too late for the voting legislators to read and understand what exactly THEY ARE VOTING FOR. I think time should be allowed for these earmarks to be ingested before being voted on - pro or con.

I do also very much agree with you about taking the corporate/special interest money out of the process. But truthfully, I never expect to see that happen because these perks are what makes the job of legislator so worthwhile for many leaders. Not all, of course, but enough of them enjoy these donations and favors and are not against returning the favors. They know that if they just hold on and sit still for awhile, the whole thing will blow over as it always has done in the past.