Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Democrats aren't listening (and neither are the Republicans)

The Democrats aren't listening. The omnibus spending bill, which comprises 1924 pages, has billions and billions of dollars in earmarks. Something that I for one thought the American people had discussed with congress on November 2nd of this year.

That's right. Fifty four democrat senators are listed as having earmarks in this bill. But they are not the only culprits with a hearing deficit. There are thirty three republicans who apparently didn't get the memo on November 2nd either. And the two biggest violators of the people's trust when it comes to earmarks? The two republican senators from Mississippi.

Have a look for yourself.

The Omnibus Arrives

1:11 am December 15, 2010, by Jamie Dupree

I have been talking about it for weeks, and yesterday it was finally released. A 1,924 page behemoth known in the lexicon of Capitol Hill as the “Omnibus” budget bill, chock full of thousands of home state budget earmarks.

Even though it was championed by Democrats, the Omnibus is filled with earmarks for both parties – yes, you read that correctly.

In fact, if you break down the number of earmarks for each Senator, you will see that the top two earmarkers in terms of pure numbers are the two GOP Senators from Mississippi, Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker. Cochran happens to be the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

So here’s the list of Senators and the number of earmarks I found for each in this Omnibus – so find your Senator and see what they did in this bill.

Cochran (R-MS) 230
Wicker (R-MS) 199
Murray (D-WA) 172
Harkin (D-IA) 152
Reid (D-NV) 129
Menendez (D-NJ) 123
Feinstein (D-CA) 121
Lautenberg (D-NJ) 120
Lincoln (D-AR) 114
Inouye (D-HI) 113
Schumer (D-NY) 106
Johnson (D-SD) 105
Landrieu (D-LA) 104
Specter (D-PA) 103
Pryor (D-AR) 96
Levin (D-MI) 93
Stabenow (D-MI) 91
Boxer (D-CA) 90
Brown (D-OH) 87
Grassley (R-IA) 86
Bingaman (D-NM) 86
Durbin (D-IL) 86
Akaka (D-HI) 83
Wyden (D-OR) 83
Cardin (D-MD) 79
Merkley (D-OR) 79
Gillibrand (D-NY) 79
Bond (R-MO) 78
Bennett (R-UT) 76
Casey (D-PA) 76
Udall (D-NM) 73
Reed (D-RI) 70
Kerry (D-MA) 69
Cantwell (D-WA) 69
Hagan (D-NC) 69
Voinovich (R-OH) 68
Klobuchar (D-MN) 68
Rockefeller (D-WV) 67
Dodd (D-CT) 66
Mikulski (D-MD) 65
Tester (D-MT) 65
Lieberman (ID-CT) 64
Hutchison (R-TX) 63
Burr (R-NC) 63
Baucus (D-MT) 62
Dorgan (D-ND) 60
Warner (D-VA) 60
Webb (D-VA) 58
Franken (D-MN) 58
Collins (R-ME) 57
Leahy (D-VT) 56
Murkowski (R-AK) 55
Whitehouse (D-RI) 55
Kohl (D-WI) 54
Conrad (D-ND) 52
Vitter (R-LA) 48
Cornyn (R-TX) 45
Snowe (R-ME) 44
Nelson (D-FL) 43
Chambliss (R-GA) 42
Crapo (R-ID) 41
Risch (R-ID) 41
Bennet (D-CO) 40
Brownback (R-KS) 39
Carper (D-DE) 39
Begich (D-AK) 37
McConnell (R-KY) 35
Roberts (R-KS) 35
Sanders (I-VT) 33
Shelby (R-AL) 32
Inhofe (R-OK) 32
Shaheen (D-NH) 32
Alexander (R-TN) 30
Udall (D-CO) 30
Lugar (R-IN) 29
Graham (R-SC) 27
Thune (R-SD) 26
Isakson (R-GA) 24
Nelson (D-NE) 23
Sessions (R-AL) 21
Bunning (R-KY) 21
Ensign (R-NV) 20
Gregg (R-NH) 13
Barrasso (R-WY) 4
Enzi (R-WY) 3
Hatch (R-UT) 1
Bayh (D-IN) 1
Corker (R-TN) 1
Brown (R-MA) 1
McCain (R-AZ) 0
Feingold (D-WI) 0
Kyl (R-AZ) 0
DeMint (R-SC) 0
Coburn (R-OK) 0
McCaskill (D-MO) 0
Johanns (R-NE) 0
LeMieux (R-FL) 0
Manchin (D-WV) 0
Coons (D-DE) 0
Kirk (R-IL) 0

There is more at the link. Take note, Jamie Dupree is one of the more trusted observers inside the beltway. So if he has put this list together, you can count on its veracity.

Now. Anybody up for a round of emails and phone calls to their senators?

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