The Dems still ....

The Democrat Omnibus Bill: 1924 pages, 6,488 earmarks, $1.27trillion equating to $575.13million per page and only 3 days to read and vote on it.

Just as news breaks that congress has received it's lowest approval rating in Gallup Polling history, 13%, with an 83% dissaproval rating, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid whips out a monsterous spending bill in similar fashion to the Obamacare bill.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas has previously criticized the Democratic majority for not passing budget resolutions and stated,"today we learn Senate Democrats now want to sandwich them together, totaling almost 2,000 pages, and jam them through in the waning moments of this lame duck session before anyone can read them. This political end-around reveals just how quickly my colleagues across the aisle have already forgotten the voters’ message in November.”

Senator John McCain gave a speech on the floor of the Senate pointing out the absurdity of the last minute bill and pointed out:

"One thing is abundantly clear to me – that the majority has not learned the lessons of last month’s election. The American people could not have been more clear. They are tired of wasteful spending. They are tired of big government. They are tired of sweetheart deals for special interests. They are tired of business as usual in Washington. And they are tired of massive bills – just like this one - put together behind closed doors, and rammed through the Congress at the last moment so that no one has the opportunity to read them and no one really knows what kind of waste is in them."

 

In a move to embarras Republicans, earmarks that were requested early in 2010, long before the voters spoke against out of control spending the mid-terms elections, were included by Democrats. A comprehensive break down of ear marks by DC reporter Jamie Dupree show that the lions share of earmarks belong to Democrats. Here are just a select few:

$247,000 – Virus free grapes in Washington State
$413,000 – Peanut research in Alabama
$125,000 – Fishery equipment for the Guam Fisherman’s Cooperative Association
$349,000 – Swine waste management in North Carolina
$277,000 – Potato pest management in Wisconsin
$246,000 – Bovine tuberculosis treatment in Michigan and Minnesota
$522,000 – Cranberry and blueberry disease and breeding in New Jersey
$500,000 – Oyster safety in Florida
$400,000 – Solar parking canopies and plug-in electric stations in Kansas
$165,000 – Maple syrup research in Vermont

Senators Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint and John McCain are leading a republican charge demanding the bill be read in it's entirety on the Senate floor by the clerk. It is estimated that this will take 40 hours and force members of both sides of the aisle to face the reality of the bill.

Harry Reid has warned that this bill will get passed, even if he has to keep the Senate in session until January 4th, the last official day of the 111th Congress. Having an 83% dissaproval rating and being party to the greatest political loss in the US in 65 years does not seem to be slowing down the Senate democrats.

Interestingly, the House had already passed a stripped down Continuing Resolution to allow the US government to operate until the new GOP controlled House can deal with it in January.

Here is the URL for the comprehensive breakdown of how many earmarks were requested by each member, and their party affiliation:

http://wsbradio.com/blogs/jamie_dupree/2010/12/the-omnibus-arrives-1.html