What's on the menu on Capitol Hill these days?
Pork, of course.
Not that we're surprised, but we are scratching our heads, given the promises and pronouncements of the last election season.
In their first half-year in office, the newly powerful House Democrats have seemingly lost their reformist zeal and all but a couple of their would-be Republican watchdogs have allowed it to happen.
Now comes the tale of Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., long a king of congressional pork, lately the maestro of covert pork.
Earlier this month, Murtha sneaked $5.5 million in earmarks (pork) for contractors (and campaign contributors) in his home district into the Intelligence authorization bill. This despite the Democrats' supposed moratorium on earmarks.
Because the moratorium actually makes earmarking even less subject to public scrutiny than it was previously, Murtha's handouts likely wouldn't have come to light were it not for the muckraking of Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., the House's leading pork buster.
Flake began by - surprise! - asking if there were any earmarks attached to the bill. He was told no.
Skeptical - really? - he kept asking questions and eventually found 26 earmarks (pet projects for individual representative's districts) hooked to the appropriations, among them a pair for Concurrent Technologies in Johnstown, Pa.
That's when things got testy.
Turns out, Murtha had affirmed - as is required under the new “reforms” - that “neither I nor my spouse had any financial interest” in either of the earmarked projects. But he had failed to mention that folks at Concurrent Technologies had contributed $56,475 to his campaigns since 2000.
When Flake tried to get his fellow Republicans to join the fray and “take a more proactive position in opposition to earmarks,” though, he got the cold shoulder. The House minority leader, in fact, didn't even reply to Flake's plea for help.
His effort did find a supporter in Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who uncovered another $23 million Murtha earmark for a National Drug Intelligence Center, also in Johnstown. Rogers was able to get Republican leaders to protest that behemoth, which hadn't even been listed as an earmark. It was subsequently placed on the earmark list.
But when Rogers tried to get the drug intelligence center axed, Murtha roared. Eliminate my pork, the congressman said, and I'll eliminate your own earmarks “now and forever.”
Again, no surprise, coming from a champion pork barreller who has in the past threatened not only his fellow politicians, but the Pentagon. As in: “I just tell them what they need to do.” And who earlier this year called his own party's ethics reform bill “total crap.”
Now Rogers, a former FBI agent, has introduced a motion to rebuke Murtha for his threatening remarks, which are actually a violation of House rules. The motion, though, isn't likely to see the light of day, much less a floor vote.
Congressional insiders say Democratic leaders are likely to use a procedural maneuver to kill the motion, thus avoiding the wrath of Murtha themselves.
And GOP leaders? In the words of Flake, “The only action taken regarding earmarks by Republicans thus far this year is to ask for clarification of the earmark rules, in order to ensure that we can take full advantage of earmark opportunities.”
All of which leaves us wondering: Where's the beef?
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