By Kevin Bogardus and Manu Raju
Following in the footsteps of their House counterparts, Senate GOP budget hawks have targeted more Democrats than Republicans in their hunt for earmarks.
Based on a review of the amendments filed to the six appropriations bills brought to the Senate floor so far,
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) have targeted 13 specific earmarked projects — nine of which were sponsored solely by Democrats.
This includes the successful attack on a high-profile earmark backed by the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). In a vote last week, Coburn won a vote to cut $1 million in funds for a museum detailing the 1969 Woodstock music festival. The request was co-sponsored by Clinton and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).
Only three of the 13 earmarks targeted were sponsored exclusively by Republicans.
In the House, earmark critic Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and other fiscal conservatives targeted 20 earmarks in the first six spending bills, with only four sponsored exclusively by Republicans.
Despite these figures, Coburn insisted his quest to cut spending was not about party but about spending priorities. “We never look at who they are, we look at what it is,” Coburn said. “I’m equally grievous towards both groups that want earmarks.”
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Related:
The Hill Blog: Coburn’s Awesome Victory for Taxpayers
Time Herald-Record: (NY)
A senator from Oklahoma has squashed a $1 million earmark to billionaire Alan Gerry's Woodstock-era museum in Bethel.
In a rare rebuke of a pet projects, senators, including Democrats, pulled monies last week earmarked by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and shifted that money to provide health care for pregnant woman and homeless children.
"I'm pleased my colleagues took a bold stand... in defense of common sense and rejected the self-interested parochial politics that have disillusioned millions of Americans," said Sen. Tom Coburn, the Republican who organized the effort to kill the earmark, saying public monies shouldn't be given to a private museum backed by a man worth $1.3 billion according to Forbes.
"Maybe this is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius for taxpayers."
Read more...Labels: Congress, Sen. Tom Coburn
Posted at 10/24/2007 08:49:00 AM
