I remember something about the Democrats making all kinds of promises about the type of changes they would make in the first one hundred hours of controlling Congress:
If all goes according to plan, the House will get through its hundred-hour agenda in 15 days, or 360 hours, by standard definition. Today, the House will take up an ethics package. Tomorrow, new budget controls.
And, speaking of Congressional budget controls:
After promising unprecedented openness regarding Congress’ pork barrel practices, House Democrats are moving in the opposite direction as they draw up spending bills for the upcoming budget year.
Democrats are sidestepping rules approved their first day in power in January to clearly identify “earmarks” — lawmakers’ requests for specific projects and contracts for their states.
Rather than including specific pet projects, grants and contracts in legislation as it is being written, Democrats are following an order by the House Appropriations Committee chairman to keep the bills free of such earmarks until it is too late for critics to effectively challenge them.
Now, that’s got to be a new low: Creating a new rule in January and sidestepping it in June. You Independents, who read this blog, might want to keep that in mind for the next election.