January 28, 2008
INSIDE BASEBALL, BUT FUN (via Brad S):
Fact Sheet: President Bush Takes Action to Prevent Wasteful Earmarks: Announces Executive Order, Pledges Veto (WhiteHouse.gov, 1/28/08)
On Tuesday, President Bush will issue an Executive Order directing Federal agencies to ignore any future earmark that is not voted on and included in a law approved by Congress. This will effectively end the common practice of concealing earmarks in so-called report language instead of placing them in the actual text of the bill. This means earmarks will be subject to votes, which will better expose them to the light of day and help constrain excessive and unjustified spending.* The Executive Order will provide that with regard to all future appropriations laws and other legislation enacted into law, executive agencies will not commit, obligate, or expend funds on the basis of earmarks from any non-statutory source, including requests included in congressional committee reports or other congressional documents, or communications from or on behalf of Members of Congress, or any other non-statutory source, except when required by law, or when an agency itself decides that a project or other transaction has merit under statutory criteria or other merit-based decision-making.
Dick Cheney may as well sit there with a banjo in his lap tonight. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 28, 2008 3:16 PM
So he opted not go for comity with congress? I know all the conservative blogs out there were clamoring for him to do this and were quite pissed when they were hearing that he was not going to.
Posted by: mc at January 28, 2008 4:03 PMWhat a lame duck!
Posted by: ic at January 28, 2008 4:23 PM7 years too late.
Posted by: Bruno at January 28, 2008 4:32 PMSo he opted not go for comity with congress?
My understanding, which may be wrong, is that this may only affect future bills but not the recently passed 2008 Budget. Congress felt that it was "unfair" to have a policy that would affect already negotiated and passed bills. So this is guaranteed to affect only the 2009 Budget-- well, unless the Dems decide to continuing resolution it past the election.
Posted by: John Thacker at January 28, 2008 4:36 PMLast paragraph of the Executive Order:
The President in the State of the Union will pledge to veto any appropriations bill Congress sends him that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half. Last year, President Bush asked Congress to voluntarily cut the number and cost of earmarks in half and to refrain from slipping earmarks into committee reports that never come to a vote in Congress. Unfortunately, neither goal was met – the FY08 appropriations bills passed by Congress contained more than 11,700 earmarks totaling almost $17 billion. If the Executive Order does not induce Congress to be accountable and get excessive earmarks under control, this veto warning will help ensure real discipline against excess and waste.
So he's going to direct all executive agencies to ignore them unless Congress makes a little less of them, in which case they're completely valid?
Posted by: Matt Cohen at January 28, 2008 4:40 PMWill McCain rise and applaud this part of the speech? And perhaps Murtha will give a snide reaction for the cameras.
Posted by: ratbert at January 28, 2008 5:00 PMCouldn't this be considered a backdoor line-item veto? After all, conference reports do get passed by Congress and are considered law if the President signs?
Last I checked, SCOTUS frowned on this sort of thing.
Posted by: Brad S at January 28, 2008 5:19 PMSeriously, I'd pay real American greenbacks to see Cheney w/ a banjo on his knee. Priceless.
Posted by: JR at January 28, 2008 6:48 PMa backdoor line-item veto? Not really, the porks are not in the bills passed. They are in reports that do not have the force of law unless the executive branch chooses to implement them. The porks that are in the bills, however, are safe. Bush is not vetoing those.
Posted by: ic at January 28, 2008 8:04 PMDoubtful any of the candidates attend.
Posted by: oj at January 28, 2008 8:55 PM