You may have heard that Harry Reid called the Senate to some business on Sunday to vote for cloture on S.22 — an omnibus public lands bill. Reid won this round — the vote was 60 – 12, with 17 repubs AWOL. Why AWOL? Well, it was a Sunday vote and everyone is pretty much over the shenanigans of Tom Coburn from Oklahoma who has been holding up many of the individual bills in this omnibus over the past year. The 150+ items in this bill are leftovers from previous sessions and last year Senate Dems pulled them all together into one bill. The bill did not come up for a vote before the Senate adjourned for the year, so Reid brought it back now to get it passed.
Today’s talking point about this bill is that “no one had a chance to read it” before it was brought to a vote early in the session and on Sunday. Of course, that is quite wrong, since this Omnibus has been in existence much of the last year with obstructionist Tom Coburn holding up the works. Which means, of course, that those whining about not being able to read the bill are also lying, too. Shocking, right?
The new Dem majority along with several Repub defectors are moving this bill to its “up or down vote” where the business gets taken care of one way or another, rather than just subject to the tantrums of one wingnut.
Coburn is a freaking whack job. He’s the guy who was upset when Schindler’s List was shown on NBC.
Thanks Oklahoma. Thanks Republican Party.
Oklahoma is one of the few states that voted more Republican in 2008.
Oh and kudos for Carper voting Yea.
No surprise to see that DL comes down on the side of wasteful, corrupt pork-laden omnibus bills. Me, I’m with Coburn and DeMint for trying to stop it.
Impervious to reality as usual. On your way loser.
Funny how Demint chooses as his example of “pork” a facility in Panama that is producing data confirming global warming.
What do you call it when you try to defund things you are opposed to because you are a wingnut – “the other white meat?”
But, it seems, they aren’t really taking a stand on stopping it, Dave. Looks like they’re citing “time” constraints and “the dog ate my homework” defense. Unless you think “no one had time to read it” equates into taking a position?
I love the Republican Talking Point about Nature:
If you can’t drill it, mine it or exploit it, we’re not interested.
No surprise to see that DL comes down on the side of wasteful, corrupt pork-laden omnibus bills. Me, I’m with Coburn and DeMint for trying to stop it.
No surprise to see that FSP isn’t reading what is written, either. DL is coming down on moving on with the process and not letting one (or two) monkeys stop the show. They can still stop the bill — they just have to persuade a majority do vote no. No reason why the bill shouldn’t get an “up or down vote”.
DL is also coming down on exposing the stupidity of not having time to read a bill that has been in existence for about 6 months.
“But, it seems, they aren’t really taking a stand on stopping it, Dave.”
They’re unable to. They don’t have the procedural means to stop it.
Also, they’ve been as consistent in opposing pork as the Democrats have been in slopping it up.
BTW, DeMint also highlighted a $12 million orchid museum in Maryland, $5 million for botanical gardens in Hawaii and much more.
Plenty of repubs got some of that pork too — which (if you hadn’t noticed) is exactly why many of them were AWOL from the vote and why those who were there voted for it.
They’re unable to. They don’t have the procedural means to stop it.
In politics, that is known as “losing.”
Is there no end to the stream of bullshit from Republicans?
Three minutes worth of fact-checking was all it took to prove the “orchid museum” thing is more crap from Demint. It is not a museum; it is a greenhouse facility operated by the Smithsonian. From the bill:
Thanks anon, I was just doing the same. Dave Burris just shows how he can only type from talking points.
Smithsonian Botany Department
FSP wrote BTW, DeMint also highlighted a $12 million orchid museum in Maryland, $5 million for botanical gardens in Hawaii and much more.
Republicans hate education.
Republicans hate education.
Particularly if it is about science or sex.
Republicans like to misrepresent science spending as pork. Remember how Palin made fun of “fruit fly research” (which is a big component of genetics research) and McCain misrepresented a state-of-the-art new projector for a planetarium as an “overhead projector.”
Now, if someone were arguing that Congressional earmarks is not the optimal way to do science funding, they might have a point.
Thanks for doing the research, everyone.
And Palin, while dissing fruit fly research, had her congressional delegation out getting funds for polar bear research. Go figure.