Hey Idiot, Wrong Bill

At first I was going to have a post on how this press release from Cong. Steve Kagen (D-Appleton) was a sign on how vulnerable he is.

For a man who has a near identical voting record as Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- a woman he once hoped would run for President -- you need all you can to highlight "bipartisanship" when it occurs. So, today, you see a press release giving high-fives for a 409-2 vote.

That's what Kagen's press office gives us today. Self-serving political excrement.

But then I realized why I was glad Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel only brow beat the Kagen Press Office for the January Incident (WH Story) and not fired anybody.

The place is still occupied with idiots.

They got their facts wrong.

President Bush had threatened to veto the bill and its critical expenditures. "President Bush must not veto this bill. He shares a solemn responsibility to take of our troops he placed in harms way," Kagen said.

Actually, the bill the President is threatening to veto is the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill for FY 2008. It passed the House by a narrower 268-150.

Kagen didn't issue a release for that vote.

In fact, a simple search of Google News will give you this fact from the AP about what happened with the Veteran's Affairs bill.

But the White House is giving a free pass to a politically sacrosanct bill funding veterans' programs, which passed the House Friday afternoon by a 409-2 vote. That measure exceeds Bush's request by $4 billion, or 7 percent.

The Homeland Security Bill is roughly 6 percent higher than the President's initial budget request. It's got about $2.1 Billion in pork barrel earmarks.

Kagen used to think this way about earmarks in October of last year.

Appleton, WI - Saying that professional politicians in Washington need to start showing more respect for middle-class Wisconsin taxpayers, Dr. Steve Kagen today said that a top priority for the next Congress must be ending pork-barrel projects and special-interest spending.

"The old Congress that left town last week amid scandal and controversy will be replaced on November 7 with a new Congress," Dr. Kagen said. "We will stand up for true Wisconsin values by balancing the federal budget, putting an end to pork, and enacting strict new spending limits to bring down the record deficits we are inheriting."

Dr. Kagen said Congress this session set records for padding legislation with special-interest spending. Last year, some 15,877 pork projects were slipped into bills, costing taxpayers more than $47 billion.

"That's five times as much pork, at more than twice the cost, as a decade ago and more than last year's entire $41 billion budget for homeland security," Dr. Kagen said. "Instead of refocusing resources on supporting our troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq or investing in a more competitive economy, they have squandered the taxpayers' money on special-interest projects."

The Dr.'s since refused to disclose his own earmarks, and said nothing when Dave Obey wanted to create slush funds from inside the Appropriations Committee.

Washington does change you I guess.