Obama Citizenship

Rep?s Son Could Directly Benefit from Stimulus Bill

By Phil

According to a report in today’s Washington Times, Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David Obey (D-WI) is being questioned over an earmark for national parks — larger than the service’s entire national budget — could be benefiting the chief lobbyist’s senior VP of government affairs, Craig Obey, the Representative’s son:

A top House Republican is demanding an investigation into whether the more than $2 billion for national parks in the House stimulus package is proper in light of the fact that the chief lobbyist for the National Parks Conservation Association is the son of House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey.

NPCA is a major player in advocating for national parks funding, and its senior vice president for government affairs is Craig Obey, son of the Wisconsin Democrat who has long been his party’s top Appropriations Committee member.

The money included in the stimulus bill that passed Mr. Obey’s committee - $2.25 billion - was about equal to the National Park Service’s total yearly budget, and would be a staggering increase and almost three times the $802 million that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved for park spending in its stimulus bill. …

“It really does beg the question of, is this an earmark, is this a family connection and should it have been disclosed at least in the spirit of what the Democrats said they wanted, and the answer is it should have been disclosed,” Mr. Issa said. …

Mr. Issa, though, said the request was so large that it raised questions - not least because he doubted the Park Service could spend a fraction of the money during the next two years, when the stimulus bill is supposed to be critical.

“It gives them a slush fund they can use for all kinds of things for years to come,” Mr. Issa said, adding that the big discrepancy between House and Senate funding raised the question of whether the money was a payoff of some sort.

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, said the total of the House spending request closely matched the NPCA’s own wish list, issued late last year.

“When these numbers come close to somebody’s wish list, I think it’s critical to look and follow up on how this money gets spent on the other side,” he said.

Mr. Issa said parks money raises the question of whether there’s a political payoff for Democrats, and he said the same question should be asked about many items in the bill.

“Are there tens or hundreds of billions of dollars going out to groups that will in fact politically be helping the majority or the president in their re-election?”

Is it any wonder the that Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill wants to move as quickly as they can to get this monstrousity of a pork bill through the Legislative branch before anyone finishes reading everything that the bill contains? After all, look at what AmericasRight.com has recently reported from The Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation:

• $7.7 billion for various upgrades and work done on federal buildings
• $5.2 billion for voter fraud experts ACORN and other “neighborhood stabilization” groups
• $2.4 billion for carbon capture projects
• $1 billion for AMTRAK
• $650 million–more–for coupons for the conversion to digital television
• $600 million for federal automobiles
• $400 million for research into global warming
• $335 million for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases
• $50 million to the National Endowment for the Arts

Tell me — what, exactly, are we trying to stimulate except years-old political pet projects? Maybe the majority ought to at least consider looking at Rush Limbaugh’s plan.

-Phil

Full post as published by The Right Side of Life on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).