The AP reports that there the lame duck Democratic controlled Congress is pushing for one last pork barrel spending spree:
The spending barons on Capitol Hill, long used to muscling past opponents of bills larded with pet projects, are seeking one last victory before tea party-backed GOP insurgents storm Congress intent on ending the good old days of pork-barrel politics.
You might call it the last running of the old bulls in Congress.
It’s an old trick, an omnibus spending bill loaded with earmarks:
Altogether, the bill contains about $8 billion worth of earmarks, less than in previous years since House Republicans didn’t ask for any. The earmarked funds equal less than 1 percent of the measure.
The catchall bill is designed to bankroll the operations of every Cabinet agency for the budget year that started Oct. 1, as well as $158 billion to pay for Pentagon operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It also challenges President Barack Obama. One administration-opposed provision would block the Pentagon from transferring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States. Another would provide $450 million for a program to develop a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter despite a veto threat by the administration, which says it’s a waste of money.
Senator Inouye has a hand in this feast:
The architect of the measure, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, has been working with senior Republicans on the panel — Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Robert Bennett of Utah and Kit Bond of Missouri, among others — to line up the 60 votes needed to repel a filibuster promised by GOP Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and other conservatives.
“We remain cautiously optimistic,” said Inouye spokesman Rob Blumenthal.
Inouye’s optimism was based on earlier private conversations with Democrats and Republicans alike, but it remains to be seen whether key Republicans will stick with him in the face of fierce opposition from tea party activists. But Inouye allies like Bennett, Bond and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are already leaving politics and may be immune to pressure.
Inouye’s measure would replace a slightly less expensive bill that the House passed last week. The House bill doesn’t contain earmarks like road and agricultural research projects, water treatment plants and grants for local anti-drug campaigns.
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