Tuesday - March 30, 2010
Give Us Our DaneGeld!
The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks—and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual, or a political payoff.
The Sunlight Foundation says it plans to track the earmark requests, which were put in one day after health care reform cleared Congress, to see whether they’re approved and whether it appears lawmakers are being rewarded for their vote.
“We know that in Congress one of the ways that leadership tries to influence members is through earmarks,” said Bill Allison, editorial director at the nonpartisan organization. “So this seemed to us something good to follow.”
Stupak and the 10 other Democrats were critical to the success of the health care bill. They were holding out over concerns about funding for abortion coverage but announced the president had assuaged their worries—with an executive order restricting abortion funding—the morning of the big vote.
Stupak’s office said there’s absolutely no link between the earmarks and the health care bill’s passage.
Here are the earmark amounts requested by the 11 House Democrats in the 2011 bill:
Rep. Jerry Costello of Illinois.: $1,418.7 million ($256.4 million in 2010)
Rep. Solomon Ortiz of Texas: $618 million ($726.1 million in 2010)
[Rep. Bart] Stupak of Michigan: $578.9 million
Rep. Steve Driehaus of Ohio: $332.2 million
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio: $294 million ($305.7 million in 2010)
Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper of Pennsylvania: $236.8 million ($54 million in 2010)
Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota.: $207 million ($226 million in 2010)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana.: $115.4 million ($82.3 million in 2010)
Rep. Charles Wilson of Ohio: $84 million ($62.3 million in 2010)
Rep. Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania.: $67.1 million
Rep. Joseph Donnelly of Indiana: $19.8 million ($11.65 million in 2010)
Guess these folks all had superior negotiating skills, that’s all. This is NOT legalized bribery of any kind. Huh? What? Oh, you must excuse me. My leg is ringing. I’d better go answer it.

Posted by Drew458
Filed Under: • Government • Corruption and Greed •
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