Quote:
Originally Posted by MattLarson
Sure - that will work great!
McCain: You all need to stop earmarks.
Congress: That's how we keep getting re-elected. Get bent. We'll keep earmarking, and we'll keep doing it under cover like we do now.
Just off the top of your head, does the President sent the agenda in Congress? Formulate the rules in the House and Senate?
If not, don't you think this is perhaps an issue for those who do?
The Congress has had decades to bring about legislative reform.
And you see what they've done on the issue, right?
And again, who controls the process? The legislature or the executive branch?
Matt
|
Again.... I said it all above, but let me reiterate:
- Earmarks are a congressional animal.
- The POTUS does have veto power
- The POTUS can also shape policy by exerting political and public pressure
=> Announcing that constant VETO is the solution is obtuse. Legislators will stand up for their legitimate earmarks and back the president down with public pressure on occasion... or not. The only thing we can be certain of is that there would be more gridlock than there is now. Not pretty.
=> The only solution is if congress is pressured into reforming itself. It's not an easy route, but public pressure, in combination with transparency (which is now there in large measure because of Obama's legislation) can help to solve the problem long-term. The enemy is the stupid process that creates expenditures that are slipped in to unrelated legislation.... not the expenditures themselves.
McCain's proposed solution for earmarks smacks of the same short-sightedness demonstrated on a whole host of issues.