Coverage on the Coburn Amendment
This blog post is part of the continuing coverage of the Coburn Amendment, which will soon be debated on the Senate floor.
UPDATE (10:51am): Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) is the first senator to oppose Coburn's various pork amendments. He's getting a little hot under the collar.
UPDATE (10:57am): Coburn is giving Bond the riot act. This is great stuff. Comments are open on this blog post.
UPDATE (11:09am): Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) is up to bat. Again, if you want to watch, go here.
UPDATE (11:29am): Larry Kudlow has gotten in on the action. He writes:
bq. It's official folks.
bq. Fiscal responsibility has pork up against the ropes and is swinging away with bipartisan support.
bq. All over the blogosphere - conservative sites and liberal too - a wave of support is gathering force behind the Coburn Amendment to put a final stop to Congressman Don Young's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska. This amendment is a big deal as it threatens the opposition by opening up ALL the pork in the Highway Bill.
I'm told Larry may have a guest or two on his show tonight regarding this amendment. Stay tuned...
UPDATE (11:40am): Mary Katharine Ham is blogging from the Capitol this morning. Check out what some House members are saying about pork projects.
UPDATE (11:48am): Coburn is now going after a $1 million parking lot in Omaha, Nebraska, an earmark provided by Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) Ben Nelson (D-NE).
UPDATE (11:54am): I just got word from the Senate floor that Coburn's "Bridge to Nowhere" amendment is germane. A vote is expected around 2pm EDT.
UPDATE (11:59am): Ben Nelson, "There is nothing inappropriate about this [earmark]."
UPDATE (12:07pm): A floor vote on the parking lot is scheduled for 12:15pm.
UPDATE (12:15pm): Okay, the Senate is now voting on a motion to table (kill) a Coburn amendment! To be clear, they are only voting on a few earmarks that Coburn identified to defund and put together into one amendment. A vote on the "Bridge to Nowhere" amendment is still expected at 2pm. Vote totals on this smaller amendment will follow shortly, but right now only Coburn and Jim DeMint (R-SC) have voted NO on the motion. BTW - both Coburn and DeMint were elected last year with Club member support.
UPDATE (12:29pm): This whole debate about pork is part of a larger attempt to cut federal spending across the board. Bobby Eberle over at GOPUSA's blog has more info on the press conference held today on the Hill by the Club's president, Pat Toomey, and other conservative leaders. Here's a photo of Pat from the event:
UPDATE (12:36pm): Okay, we've officially entered into the Twilight Zone. The biggest porker in the Senate, Robert Byrd (D-WV), has voted NO on the amendment (it appears) and so has Chuck Hagel (R-NE), who is from the very state, Nebraska, which has a pork project in this amendment. Do-do, do-do, do-do.
UPDATE (12:42pm): Moving to the House side of the Capitol, Congressman Jeff Flake just issued this press release:
bq.
Washington, D.C. - Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake, who represents the state's Sixth District, today decried a $2 million earmark in the House version of the Defense Appropriations bill to study "no flush" urinal technology. The earmarked funds are drawn from the Navy's operations and maintenance budget.
bq. "Talk about flushing taxpayers' money down the toilet," said Flake.
bq. "The problem with earmarks like this is that they divert needed funds away from maintenance and operations. The military is then forced to come back to Congress the following year and ask for even more money."
Also, I knew it couldn't be true. Robert Byrd just changed his vote to YES. He must've been confused. I think the old man needs to retire, eh?
UPDATE (12:59pm): The amendment was killed by a vote of 89 to 13. I'll get you a full list of the 13 soon. Again, this is NOT the "Bridge to Nowhere" amendment. Instead it was an amendment to defund pork projects in Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Seattle.
UPDATE (1:29pm): Alaskans don't want the pork. See below:
bq. "Thinking about the immense disaster in the Gulf states, it occurred to me that the most effective thing that Ketchikan residents could do to help would be to return the money earmarked for our Gravina Bridge."
- Dave Person, Ketchikan, Stories in the News, Sept. 3, 2005
bq. "We must all seriously demand that our Alaska congressional delegation take immediate steps to recall and to redistribute the millions of dollars now earmarked for non-essential and highly questionable and controversial new Alaska bridges, which include a Lynn Canal road."
- Alan Munro, Juneau, Juneau Empire Letters, Sept. 7, 2005
bq. There is no free federal money; what we Alaskans get is money that some other state -- and its people -- don't get. Even those many of us who've recognized that our congressional delegation has brought in more than our fair share have found it easy to turn our heads and let it be. But now we have a vivid picture of the devastation that can come to others when we "win" the funds for nonessential and even controversial projects that others desperately needed for survival."
- Doreen Ransom, Anchorage, Anchorage Daily News Letters, Sept. 25, 2005
bq. "I'm embarrassed to see the town of Ketchikan become synonymous with a $300 million bridge,"...Troll said he believes that, if there were an election right now on using the money for the bridge or for building up the New Orleans levees, almost everyone in town would say no to the bridge.
- Ketchikan artist Ray Troll, in "Bridge to Nowhere? National spotlight has Ketchikan uncomfortable", Sean Cockerham, Anchorage Daily News, Sept. 18, 2005
bq. "The decent thing -- that is, the American thing -- for Alaskans and our congressional delegation to do would be to send these ill-gotten half-billion dollars south to address the real needs of millions, rather than squandering them here on corporate welfare "legacy" projects that line the pockets of a few."
- John Doyle, Anchorage, Anchorage Daily News, October 7, 2005
bq. "This money, a gift from the people of Alaska, will represent more than just material aid; it will be a symbol for our beleaguered democracy."
- Art Weirner, Anchorage Daily News Letters, Sept. 13, 2005
bq. "Alaska's lone congressman can take some gut satisfaction in telling critics of his transportation bill plums for Alaska to "kiss my ear." But he'd be wise to lend an ear to what the rest of the country is grumbling about Alaska.
bq. A touch of grace may do more for Alaska than a crude invitation. After all, the state just announced that Permanent Fund dividend checks of $845.76 will be going to every Alaskan this fall. That's $510 million, about $60 million more than the federal money assigned to the Knik Arm Crossing and the Ketchikan Bridge to Gravina Island."
- "Kiss what? Did he mean, kiss my earmark,", Anchorage Daily News Editorial, Sept. 24, 2005
bq. "Amen...send our bridge money to New Orleans."
- Bobbie McCreary, Ketchikan, Stories in the News, Sept. 6, 2005
UPDATE (1:40pm): Okay, here is a list of those senators who courageously voted NO on the motion to kill the smaller Coburn amendment:
bq. George Allen (R-VA)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Tom Coburn (R-OK)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
John Ensign (R-NV)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Chuck Hagel (R-NE)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Jim Talent (R-MO)
I know, it's a depressingly short list.
Full roll call vote.
UPDATE (1:45pm): Let's start a new blog post for all of this Coburn coverage. Again, the "Bridge to Nowhere" amendment will be voted on at 2pm, tentatively.
