Wow! What has happened to us...this is just plain cheating the process and so corrosive to our Republic. Well, at least someone in the Congress is speaking truth back to the Congress?!
April 16, 2008
Posted: 09:20 PM ET on PoliticalTicker
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate may seek a federal investigation into a 2005 earmark on a highway funding bill that was mysteriously altered after Congress approved the measure but before President Bush signed it.
The $10 million earmark, originally designated for improvements to Interstate 75 in Lee and Collier Counties in Florida, was changed to direct the money to build an interchange in Lee County, an apparently violation of congressional rules.
"This wasn't an ordinary earmark," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said, defending the decision by Democratic leaders to invite the Justice Department to probe internal congressional practices. "It was the specific circumstances here that are highly unusual."
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday whether to direct the Justice Department to investigate "allegations of impropriety" and to "ascertain if a violation of Federal criminal law has occurred." No lawmaker has acknowledged making the change.
"If there's something untoward done, whether it's morally wrong, criminally wrong, let's take a look at it," argued Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who was then the chairman of the transportation committee and chief author of the bill, says he asked for the initial project money during the 2005 congressional session for "widening and improvements for I-75 in Collier and Lee counties."
But before the bill got to the President's desk for his signature, the wording of the earmark was changed and the $10 million was redirected to build the "Coconut Road interchange I-75, Lee County."
Democrats widely believe Young directed someone to change the language. They note that as the bill was moving through Congress, Young received $40,000 in campaign contributions from local business leaders who stood to gain from a new highway interchange at that location.
In a brief exchange with CNN as he left the House floor Wednesday, Young repeatedly said "no comment" when asked if he had anything to do with the change to the earmark.
It was unclear if the Justice Department would be bound by a Senate vote to seek an investigation. Democratic lawmakers argued that the department would be required to launch the investigation, but Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, argued that the department would not necessarily have to launch the probe.
Coburn, who champions reforming the earmark process, is pressing for a special congressional committee to investigate the matter. But Democratic leaders oppose the idea because they say it would be unconstitutional for senators to investigate members of the House.
© 2008 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
April 16, 2008
Posted: 09:20 PM ET on PoliticalTicker
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate may seek a federal investigation into a 2005 earmark on a highway funding bill that was mysteriously altered after Congress approved the measure but before President Bush signed it.
The $10 million earmark, originally designated for improvements to Interstate 75 in Lee and Collier Counties in Florida, was changed to direct the money to build an interchange in Lee County, an apparently violation of congressional rules.
"This wasn't an ordinary earmark," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said, defending the decision by Democratic leaders to invite the Justice Department to probe internal congressional practices. "It was the specific circumstances here that are highly unusual."
The Senate is expected to vote Thursday whether to direct the Justice Department to investigate "allegations of impropriety" and to "ascertain if a violation of Federal criminal law has occurred." No lawmaker has acknowledged making the change.
"If there's something untoward done, whether it's morally wrong, criminally wrong, let's take a look at it," argued Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, who was then the chairman of the transportation committee and chief author of the bill, says he asked for the initial project money during the 2005 congressional session for "widening and improvements for I-75 in Collier and Lee counties."
But before the bill got to the President's desk for his signature, the wording of the earmark was changed and the $10 million was redirected to build the "Coconut Road interchange I-75, Lee County."
Democrats widely believe Young directed someone to change the language. They note that as the bill was moving through Congress, Young received $40,000 in campaign contributions from local business leaders who stood to gain from a new highway interchange at that location.
In a brief exchange with CNN as he left the House floor Wednesday, Young repeatedly said "no comment" when asked if he had anything to do with the change to the earmark.
It was unclear if the Justice Department would be bound by a Senate vote to seek an investigation. Democratic lawmakers argued that the department would be required to launch the investigation, but Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, argued that the department would not necessarily have to launch the probe.
Coburn, who champions reforming the earmark process, is pressing for a special congressional committee to investigate the matter. But Democratic leaders oppose the idea because they say it would be unconstitutional for senators to investigate members of the House.
© 2008 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
1 comment:
It looks like they may have found their man!
From Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh
CNN
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate voted Thursday to seek a federal investigation into a 2005 earmark on a highway funding bill that was altered after Congress approved the measure but before President Bush signed it.
Earmarks are requests for money by a specific legislator, usually for her or his constituency, added onto often-unrelated government spending bills.
The $10 million earmark -- originally designated for improvements to Interstate 75 in Lee and Collier Counties in Florida -- was changed to put the money into building an interchange in Lee County, an apparent violation of congressional rules.
The staff of Rep. Don Young made the changes, the Alaska Republican's spokeswoman said Tuesday, saying the staff had "fixed" a mistake in the original bill.
A proposal put forward by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, to direct the Justice Department to investigate passed the Senate by a vote of 63-29.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on that body's ethics committee to investigate whether Young violated House rules when the change was made.
"My understanding is that Congressman Young has said that his staff did make that change after this bill had passed the House and the Senate," Pelosi said. "And it wasn't about technicalities; it was about something quite different. And so I think that is something the ethics committee should look at."
Young was chairman of the Transportation Committee and chief author of the 2005 bill, which included a clause that set aside $10 million for "widening and improvements for I-75 in Collier and Lee counties" in Florida.
But before the bill got to the president's desk for his signature, the wording of the earmark was changed, and the $10 million was redirected to build the "Coconut Road interchange I-75, Lee County."
"It was an error," said Meredith Kenny, Young's spokeswoman. "It was originally supposed to say Coconut Road, so they fixed it."
In a brief exchange with CNN as he left the House floor Wednesday, Young repeatedly said "no comment" when asked whether he had anything to do with the change to the earmark.
Democrats have long suspected that Young was responsible for the change, noting that he received $40,000 in campaign contributions as the bill was moving through Congress, from local business leaders who stood to gain from a new highway interchange at that location.
"I don't know," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said when asked whether he thought the contributions were a factor in Young's decision to make the change, "but that's why the Justice Department should look into it."
The Senate stopped a proposal from Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, to set up a special congressional committee, voting in favor 49-43 but failing to reach a 60-vote requirement to pass.
Democrats had opposed Coburn's amendment, saying it is unconstitutional for the Senate to investigate a House member.
Many Republicans opposed Boxer's amendment, arguing that a body of Congress could not order an agency of the executive branch to conduct an investigation.
Boxer's proposal faces an uncertain future in the House, where GOP opposition is strong.
"We need to look at this, and I don't know that the Justice Department is the right place," House Minority Whip Roy Blunt said. "There are clearly problems in the mechanics of what happens with legislation here, and we ought to find out what they are."
The idea that the legislative branch is "suggesting they can direct the executive branch to do something is well beyond the Constitution," he said. "We clearly could direct the Government Accounting Office to do something or some branch of government that the Congress controls."
But Blunt acknowledged that the alteration of a bill after it has passed and before it reaches the president's desk is a problem.
"We don't want members of the staff deciding what legislation says and doesn't say after the Congress votes on it," he said.
House Minority Leader John Boehner said he supports an investigation by the House ethics committee.
"Mr. Young's office has welcomed any inquiry or examination of the earmark, and I would support that as well," he said. "I think it's in everyone's interest that we know what happened and did not happen here."
A spokeswoman for Young said Tuesday that the congressman "has always supported and welcomed an open earmark process. If Congress or the attorney general takes up this matter, then he has no objection."
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/17/earmark.investigation/index.html
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