After Promising To End Earmarks, Tea Party Freshmen Hog Defense Pork

[sasha031]

Tea Party freshmen who were swept into office largely based on their pledge to end congressional pork are apparently hogging the trough. Capitol Hill Blue reports that members of the Tea Party Caucus filled the latest defense appropriations bill with millions of dollars of earmarks for projects in their home districts:For example, freshman GOP Rep. Bobby Shilling put in $2.5 million for weapons and munitions advanced technology for the Quad City Manufacturing Lab at Rock Island Arsenal, which just happens to be in his district. During his campaign against Democrat Phil Hare last year, Schilling criticized Hare for adding money to defense budgets for the same facility.

While talking the big plan to be fiscally responsible the Republican freshmen have packed a huge $553 billion spending bill with millions of pet defense projects for their home districts.<...>GOP frosh Vicky Hartzler of Missouri packed the bill with $20 million for “mixed conventional load capability for Air Force bombers,” for Whiteman Air Force Base in her district. Hartlzler backed the GOP moratorium on earmarks during her campaign. Now she says she didn’t think the moratorium applied to defense spending.

The list goes on. In Mississippi, Steven Palazzo (R) used anti-pork rhetoric to beat out longtime Democrat Gene Taylor. Palazzo added nearly $30 million to the defense bill for projects in his district. Disdain for “pork barrel spending” was, of course, a central feature of all of these representatives’ campaigns.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/05/26/defense-pork-tea-party/

[hobbit709]

1. Well, THAT didn't take long.

[SpiralHawk]

2. Typical RepubliBaggers (R)

Foaming Hypocrites.

As usual.

[yellowcanine]

3. Well ya see, if the project is in mah dis-trick, it ain't pork it is a needed projeck for the dee

fence of the country. (cue patriotic music)

[gratuitous]

4. "Now she says she didn't think the moratorium applied to defense spending"

There's always a reason, isn't there? It really too bad that there's no way the Democrats could make a campaign issue out of this, because the hypocrisy is just screaming out for correction by the voters. But that would way too partisan, and we have to make nice with the sociopaths or they will be unhappy. Too bad for the country, but it's really for the best amongst the Beltway Insiders. And really, isn't that the way the country is supposed to be run?

[Liberal_Dog]

5. They Didn't Change Washington. Washington Changed Them.

:rofl: