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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: pork barrel spending

pork barrel spending stories: 29 news summaries

1 - 20 of 29 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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Lobbyist Cozy With Lawmaker Wins Jackpot

Visclosky funnels $44M in earmarks to clients not even in his state

Oct 26, 09 8:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - If you’ve got a tech company looking for a handout from the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, might we recommend calling Rep. Peter Visclosky? Or more accurately, call K&L Gates, a lobbying firm that boasts in its marketing documents, “a very good relationship” with Visclosky, the third-ranking member of... More »

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House Appropriations Committee • earmarks • pork barrel spending • defense spending • Pete Visclosky • House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee

Murtha Institute Hands Money to Murtha Friends

Funds to beef up security are showered on connected firms

Sep 21, 09 12:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - The John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security may look like a mostly deserted basement below an Indiana University of Pennsylvania dormitory, but over the years it’s overseen $50 million in federal funds—almost all of it going to Murtha’s friends and industry allies, a Washington Post ... More »

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John Murtha • earmarks • pork barrel spending • defense spending

interview

McCain: Obama Governing
From 'Far Left'

He blasts policies in interview, praises Palin for energizing party

Aug 1, 09 8:34 AM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain is busier, and angrier, than ever, writes Stephen Moore in the Wall Street Journal. The senator has become one of the fiercest critics of Obamanomics, with free-flowing stimulus and bailout dollars re-energizing his career-long fight against pork-barrel spending. President Obama was elected to govern from the center, McCain... More »

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John McCain • Senate Republicans • US economy • pork barrel spending • Sarah Palin • Election 2012

earmarks showdown

House Bill Loaded With $6.5B the Pentagon Doesn't Want


Jul 30, 09 8:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - They gave up on the F22, but Congress is still trying to give the Pentagon $6.9 billion in planes, helicopters and ships the Defense secretary doesn’t want, the Washington Post reports. House Democrats have loaded the defense spending bill with earmarks for programs Barack Obama and Robert... More »

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Barack Obama • Congress • Robert Gates • House Appropriations Committee • earmarks • appropriations • pork barrel spending

Obama Vows to Veto His Own Defense Bill Over F-22s

Congress tries to tack on $1.75B for planes

Jul 14, 09 7:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama has found himself in the odd position of threatening to veto his own defense spending bill, after senators tacked on a last-minute amendment to spend $1.75 billion on seven F-22 fighter jets, Fox News reports. The jets are outdated, costly to fly, require frequent maintenance, and have... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • Robert Gates • Adm. Mike Mullen • Carl Levin • pork barrel spending • defense spending • F-22 fighter jet

(Newser) - When the stimulus was in the works, President Obama went to great lengths to show he was sacrificing his top pet project—a clean-coal power plant to be built in Illinois—on the altar of fiscal responsibilities. “It shows that we’re serious,” a rep for Nancy Pelosi... More »

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Barack Obama • earmarks • Tom Coburn • pork barrel spending • economic stimulus package • Obama administration • clean coal • President Obama • FutureGen

(Newser) - Critics, most notably John McCain, have lambasted the latest omnibus spending bill for its 8,500 earmarks; one frequently cited provision is $1 million to fight Mormon crickets in Utah. “Is that a species of cricket or a game played by the Brits?” joked McCain over Twitter. But to... More »

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John McCain • earmarks • Utah • infestation • pork barrel spending • crickets • Mormon crickets • katydids

ANALYSIS

Obama Takes Baby Steps on Earmark Reform

Some say he missed opportunity; others fault lack of specifics

Mar 12, 09 12:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - President Obama announced moves to curb pork-barrel spending yesterday, but not as decisively as some hoped, Politico reports. Obama said he was signing the “imperfect omnibus because it’s necessary for the ongoing functions of government,” but in future he wants fewer earmarks in federal spending measures, and... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • earmarks • pork barrel spending • federal budget • Obama administration • President Obama

OPINION

 Sen. Crotchety Routine Is Old 

Senator's attacks on federal spending starting to seem like sour grapes

Mar 5, 09 7:31 AM CST
(Newser) - John McCain's complaining about the omnibus spending bill is starting to sound more like he's trying to fight the election again instead of fighting pork-barrel spending, Mike Madden writes in Salon. The senator appears to be going out of his way to remind people how much he disagrees with President... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • earmarks • pork barrel spending • spending bill • Twitter • Obama administration

OPINION

Age of Obama? More Like the Age of Pork

He promised change, but stimulus is same old ugly politics

Feb 6, 09 9:46 AM CST
(Newser) - Charles Krauthammer thought it would take months for Barack Obama to lose his magic. Instead? “It took two and a half weeks,” he writes in the Washington Post. Obama’s promise to “banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple,” looked pretty... More »

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Barack Obama • House of Representatives • pork barrel spending • economic stimulus package • Charles Krauthammer

Pork or Stimulus? Wrangling Sharpens Over 2nd Bailout

Partisan battle lines already being drawn as economic slump appears to worsen

Oct 16, 08 12:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - Congress’ partisan battle over the Wall Street bailout could look amateur compared to what lies ahead, the Los Angeles Times reports, as lawmakers consider a second stimulus package to keep the nation out of a steep recession. Republicans want tax cuts, while Democrats are pushing infrastructure projects and other federal... More »

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Congress • partisanship • recession • tax cuts • pork barrel spending • holiday sales • economic stimulus package • financial crisis

ANALYSIS

Bill's New Baubles Persuade Some, May Scare Others

Adding pet projects could cost support of conservative Blue Dog Dems

Oct 2, 08 2:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Senate’s version of the bailout bill is loaded with provisions specifically designed to sweeten the pot for House dissenters, Politico reports, including $3.3 billion for rural schools, equal health coverage for the mentally ill, and a suspension of the Alternative Minimum Tax. These changes may win over... More »

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Senate • Harry Reid • Steny Hoyer • pork barrel spending • budget deficit • bailout • financial crisis • Blue Dog Democrats

Palin Earmarks Total $453M
in 2 Years

Alaska guv fails the earmarks-per-day test she applies to Obama

Sep 15, 08 8:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sarah Palin called them "un-American" and John McCain denied again Friday that she requested them as governor of Alaska. But the Wall Street Journal, doing the math on earmarks, finds that Palin sought $453 million of them for her state since taking office, including $197 million in the... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • earmarks • pork barrel spending • Sarah Palin

 Palin Projects 
 Hit Mac's Pork List 

Requests from Sarah Palin made it onto McCain's 'pork list' 3 times

Sep 3, 08 7:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - Requests from Sarah Palin made it onto John McCain's "pork list" of objectionable spending three times while Palin was mayor of Wasilla, the Los Angeles Times reports. McCain's lists came as part of his long campaign against the earmarking system in which members of Congress can chuck cash at... More »

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Congress • John McCain • Alaska • earmarks • pork barrel spending • federal spending • Sarah Palin • Wasilla

 McCain Vows
 Lifetime Lobby
 Ban on Aides

Candidate calls pork-pushers 'symptom of a disease'

Aug 21, 08 8:58 AM CDT
(Newser) - Calling lobbyists “the symptom of a disease,” John McCain railed against earmarking and pork-barrel spending yesterday, telling Politico that members of his administration would be barred from lobbying after life at the White House. Some of McCain’s top campaign aides are former lobbyists, and the senator has... More »

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lobbyist • Obama 2008 • pork barrel spending • McCain 2008 • Election 2008

OPINION

 Nat'l Review:
 Stevens, Get Out

Indicted Republican senator 'disgraced himself and his office'

Jul 30, 08 1:16 PM CDT
(Newser) - Newly indicted Ted Stevens should resign as soon as possible, write the editors of the National Review. The Alaskan senator, who is accused of seven counts of making false statements, legally “deserves the benefit of the doubt—but not from an ethical standpoint,” they note. “The facts... More »

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Congress • Alaska • Senate • earmarks • corruption • Ted Stevens • Senate Republicans • pork barrel spending • federal indictment • senator • corruption charges

Opinion

Payback Time for Meanest Man in Congress

Stevens bullied his way into power, and now maybe to disgrace

Jul 30, 08 7:29 AM CDT
(Newser) - Few tears were shed on Capital Hill when Ted Stevens was indicted yesterday. Alaska’s celebrated senator spent 4 decades bullying Congress, writes Michael Crowley in the Washington Post, rising ever higher in the ranks by making politics personal. “I'm a mean, miserable SOB,” he’d... More »

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Congress • Senate • corruption • Ted Stevens • pork barrel spending

Opinion

Your Tax Dollars Put Their Names in Concrete

Lawmakers refuse to face widespread 'edifice complex'

Jul 19, 08 6:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Not long ago, a lawmaker had to be dead to put his or her name on something, but these days every two-bit representative in Congress has a building, bridge, or monument, complains John Fund in the Wall Street Journal. These “honors” are almost always paid for with... More »

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Congress • taxpayer money • pork barrel spending

After Decline, Congress' Earmarking is Back

Legislators pledged to shrink such spending last year

Jun 13, 08 10:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - Though Congress vowed last year to reduce earmarking—the process of directing funds to projects at home with little scrutiny—recently there’s been a jump in such spending, the Washington Post reports. A House defense bill’s earmarked funds rose 29% last month, and the Senate bill looks as... More »

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Congress • Senate • earmarks • House of Representatives • pork barrel spending

 McCain Pitches 
 'Gas Tax Holiday,' 
 Drug, Pork Limits  

Candidate lays out slate of economic initiatives

Apr 15, 08 12:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - John McCain used a tax day appearance to propose a summer “gas tax holiday,” calling his plan to suspend the 18-cent levy “an immediate economic stimulus.” Among other economic initiatives the candidate outlined today were upping prescription drug premiums for wealthy retirees, declaring a moratorium on... More »

MORE ABOUT:
John McCain • prescription drugs • gas tax • pork barrel spending • financial aid • economic stimulus package

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