Bush Caves to Earmarkers
According to today's editorial in the Wall Street Journal, President Bush is going let the big spenders in Congress keep their earmarks in the FY08 omnibus bill. The silver lining is that he will veto any spending bill this year that doesn't cut the number of earmarks in half from last year. He also will direct his agencies to ignore all earmarks not directly written into the bills' text.
This is modest progress. First, President Bush now owns all of the earmarks in last year's omnibus. If any scandals materialize concerning those earmarks, he will be partially to blame. He could have stopped the earmarks, but he chose not to.
Granted, his mandate going forward is positive, but again, modest. If you're an appropriator who has no intention of quitting earmarks, you'll find ways around Bush's new requirements. Some sources on the Hill suggest that only one new sentence needs to be added to a bill's text to fulfill the mandate. Just have it read something like, "All earmarks contained within the accompanying report shall have the force of law." That keeps the pork hidden and the big spenders happy.
Second, a Bush veto is very unlikely since he may not be presented with a spending bill to sign in the first place. Congress will leave Washington early because of the elections. Perhaps only after November will they come back to finish business. And by then, will Bush have the gumption to follow through? Hard to say.
We need more reform. Lots more. And now, not later.
