WASHINGTON, May 4, 2006
The Beef Is In The Pork
Some Provisions In Supplemental Spending Bill Shock And Frustrate
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Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has objected to earmarks in the emergency supplemental bill that passed the Senate on May 3. (GETTY)
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Interactive The 109th Congress Meet the leaders and follow the action in the House and Senate.
In March, the House passed a bill providing $92 billion in emergency supplemental funding for Hurricane Katrina relief and the Iraq War. On Thursday, the Senate passed a $109 billion version of the funding bill. Because the bill allows for $14 billion more in supplemental spending than he deems necessary, President Bush is not pleased with the legislation and has said he plans to veto it.
So where's the beef? The answer: in the pork.
A number of earmarks, which are unauthorized spending provisions that are attached to spending projects, have been inserted in the supplemental funding legislation. Certain earmarks have met more resistance, and inflamed more controversy, than others.
For example, since early April, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., has stood up against a $700 million project to repair and relocate the CSX rail line that runs along Mississippi's Gulf Coast. Calling the project "a giveaway for economic developers" and arguing that it would not advance the "true emergency needs" to be addressed, Coburn urged the removal of the project.
Despite efforts to kill the CSX project, the Senate voted last Wednesday to retain it in the supplemental bill.
Yet Coburn remains undaunted. "I am delighted President Bush has pledged to veto this bill," Coburn said in a statement, and "I’m confident [he] will."
Coburn was also "encouraged" by comments from House colleagues such as Majority Leader John Boehner, who object to a bill that goes beyond the President's request.
"The House will not take up an emergency supplemental spending bill for Katrina and the War in Iraq that spends one dollar more than what the President asked for. Period," Boehner said Thursday.
Another contentious provision in the supplemental bill involves a $200 million provision for Northrop Grumman, a global defense company. The provision would allow the company to recoup hurricane-related losses of uninsured items.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., has vigorously advocated the funding for Northrop Grumman — which also owns the Ingalls shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Miss. Lott's press secretary, Susan Irby, emphasized that Northrop Grumman is the largest private employer in the state of Mississippi. Thus, supporting the company means supporting jobs in the state.
But the tussle over the appropriations bill is not limited to the issues above. Here are a few others that have also raised eyebrows concerning their qualifications as "emergency" funding:
Another, which was eventually removed from the bill, called for $15 million for the National Marine Fisheries Service and other industry groups "to develop and implement a seafood promotion strategy for Gulf of Mexico fisheries."
Regardless of how unimportant some measures in the bill might seem, Irby charged that treating or characterizing them as such undercuts the people they might serve, especially those reeling from Katrina.
"It's an insult to the entire Gulf region to call any provisions frivolous," Irby said.
Jennifer Hoar ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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