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I am starting to like this Obama guy...

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:34 pm
by ravingdave
Obama said:



"We are going to ban all earmarks, the process by which individual members insert pet projects without review. We will create an economic recovery oversight board made up of key administration officials and independent advisers to identify problems early and make sure we're doing all that we can to solve it. We will put information about where money is being spent online so that the American people know exactly where their precious tax dollars are going and whether we are hitting our marks. "


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/06/us/po ... =permalink



David

regrettably

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:55 pm
by jgarry
Earmarks make up a small portion of the federal budget. It's probably a step in the right direction, but not all that big a deal

Re: regrettably

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:11 pm
by ravingdave
jgarry wrote:Earmarks make up a small portion of the federal budget. It's probably a step in the right direction, but not all that big a deal
Not in money, but in philosophy it's a HUGE big deal. It virtually guarantees a fight between congress and the President over spending !

It establishes the moral precedent of "Right vs. Wrong", with Obama in opposition to the people who are wrong.



David

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 2:19 pm
by jgarry
Power of the purse resides with Congress. It's in the constitution. That's why there's no line item veto, I believe. Earmarks should be gotten rid of, because they are subject to abuse.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 4:37 pm
by MSimon
jgarry wrote:Power of the purse resides with Congress. It's in the constitution. That's why there's no line item veto, I believe. Earmarks should be gotten rid of, because they are subject to abuse.
The President doesn't need a line item veto. He has the option of not spending the money.

He can also veto spending bills until he gets one he likes.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 4:25 am
by hanelyp
Obama said:
"We are going to ban all earmarks..."
I'll believe it when I see it in action.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:01 am
by DKelley
hanelyp wrote:
Obama said:
"We are going to ban all earmarks..."
I'll believe it when I see it in action.
Ditto.

But I will say that I like the thinking and the direction this SEEMS to be going. I liken it to change-tracking and open-source development.

Change-tracking - the idea of having a bill on the web or in some sort of version control tool (which the web can be to some extent) would be a powerful way for many to see the original bill and all the various changes to that bill. (If someone would like me to explain this is much more detail I could, but if it makes sense I'd rather not take the time.)

Open-source "development" - the idea of allowing anyone to add their 2-cents to a proposal. I think we have something like this already (with "comment periods") but with an online bill, one could somehow "attach" comments to specific parts of a bill. If someone doesn't like a specific proposal then leave a comment and let all readers hash it out.

Neither of these ideas would be the New Way Things Get Done, but I believe this approach would help minimize pork AND minimize waste in general, while hopefully delivering better bills.

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:22 pm
by Roger
From the campaign website:

Which might mean its over a yr old...
Obama and Biden believe that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 1994 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/fiscal/

hanelyp wrote: I'll believe it when I see it in action.
It maybe we already started to, Obama wanted the stim bill to be done before Jan 20th, w/o earmarks, and the dems in congress balked, telling Obama he'd have to wait a bit longer.

Starting around Dec 23rd....

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/ ... mulus.html

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... -stimulus/
Earmarks make up a small portion of the federal budget. It's probably a step in the right direction, but not all that big a deal
Right, a small part,
....but I would argue it could be a big deal. What we have seen in the past is a bill getting too many no votes, and being defeated, then those same no voters also want an earmark, that in essence accomplishes the same thing that was in the bill that was defeated.

The earmark process becomes one where a congress person can vote straight party line on a bill, but then go back home to ones district and tout how you bring home the bacon via an earmark. Its also very good for the special interest congressional scorecards.

The practice of campaign donations being linked to earmarks should be very well known by now. Looking at the #1 earmark congressperson in NJ, we see that the recipients all donate big time.

Any project that can stand on its own merit shouldn't even be an earmark. Obama claims he wants to drop earmarks to the 1994 level. We shall see if Obamas initial request for no earmarks is followed up on.

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 6:50 pm
by IntLibber
One mans polywell reactor project is another mans earmark.

Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:42 pm
by MSimon
IntLibber wrote:One mans polywell reactor project is another mans earmark.
An earmark is a request for funds that was inserted in a bill after or immediately prior to its passage so that the opportunity for discussion is eliminated. This is done prior to final reconciliation of House and Senate conferences to resolve differences between the two Legislative branches.