Seriously — I’m thinking that that the GOP is going to have a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade called the Hypocrisy Brigade. NOW, what?, you are asking. Earmarks! The showily disdained by repubs earmarks are now embraced again. And this time by John Kyl of the Arizona delegation who pretty much all turn their noses up at earmarks. When the camera is pointed at them, of course:
Only three days after GOP senators and senators-elect renounced earmarks, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican, got himself a whopping $200 million to settle an Arizona Indian tribe’s water rights claim against the government.
Kyl is a recent convert to the anti-earmark crusade of home state GOP colleague Sen. John McCain, who’s railed against them for years. The Interior Department sought only $56 million for Indian land and water claims in Obama’s proposed budget for this year and no money for Kyl’s project, or those wanted by Baucus and Bingaman.
The $200 million in Kyl’s measure would be used to construct and maintain a drinking water project on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, including a dam, reservoir, treatment plant and delivery pipelines.
Democratic Senators Baucus and Bingaman also got their piece of the pie attached to this bill (meant to settle claims of African American farmers as well as American Indians for abuses suffered by various Federal agencies.), but Kyl specifically adding funds for his homestate project after he knew that the Department of Interior hadn’t requested enough money to cover it is the classic earmark.
So…we have earmarks back and a push to massively increase the deficit to give tax cuts to their wealthy handlers — is there anyone left who think these clowns give a damn about reigning in spending?