On Apr 17, 11:11 pm, "bluecollarworker" <bluecollarwor...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:
> Senate tells Justice to look at suspicious earmark
> WA****NGTON - The Senate voted Thursday to direct the Justice Department
to
> probe how a Florida road project made its way into a 2005 highway
spending
> bill after the House and Senate voted on what lawmakers thought was the
> final version of the bill.
>
> If violations of federal criminal law occurred, it is the province of
the
> Justice Department and the FBI to investigate and prosecute them," said
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
>
> The vote was 63-29 to urge the Justice Department to determine if
criminal
> laws were broken when the "Coconut Road Interchange" project was
inserted
> into a $286 billion highway spending bill in 2005 after the House and
Senate
> had voted on it but before it was sent to President Bush for his
signature.
>
> The investigation was proposed by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairman
of
> the Environment and Public Works Committee, as part of legislation to
fix
> errors and make other modifications to the 2005 act.
>
> The Senate followed the vote by rejecting, on a 49-43 vote, a competing
> proposal by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to create an eight-member
bicameral
> body to look into the Coconut Road issue and make recommendations to
> congressional ethics committees or law enforcement officials. Sixty
votes
> were needed to approve the amendment. Opponents said that idea raised
> constitutional issues of having one chamber investigate the other.
>
> The highway bill passed 88-2. Boxer said it would release $1 billion
into
> the economy by fixing technicalities that have delayed some 500 highway
> projects. The administration expressed concern that it was creating new
> earmarks. The measure now goes to House-Senate negotiations, where the
House
> would need to agree to the proposal to ask Justice to investigate the
> Coconut Road matter.
>
> Some Republicans said requiring the executive branch to intervene raised
> separation of powers issues.
>
> "I'm highly skeptical that the Congress can direct the executive
(branch) as
> to what cases they ought to look into," said House Republican Whip Roy
Blunt
> of Missouri.
>
> The original bill included $10 million for improvements for I-75 in
> southwest Florida, one of more than 6,000 earmarks in the bill. But the
> version sent to the president redirected that money to the Coconut Road
> Interchange in Lee County.
>
> "Something happened in Congress that should never have happened," said
> Coburn, an outspoken critic of the earmarks, or special projects,
promoted
> by lawmakers that get inserted in legislation.
>
> While the details of how the change occurred remained murky, then-House
> Trans****tation Committee Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, has acknowledged
that
> he backed the Coconut Road project at the request of community
residents. "I
> think it's the right thing for the state of Florida, and you know, right
> now, they're sup****tive of it," he said this week in an interview with
The
> Associated Press.
>
> Young has not been charged with any wrongdoing, although he has been
linked
> to a Florida developer who held a fundraiser for Young in 2005 and stood
to
> benefit from the earmark.
>
> "Mr. Young's office has welcomed any inquiry or examination of the
earmark,
> and I would sup****t that as well," said House Republican leader John
Boehner
> of Ohio. "I think it's in everyone's interest that we know what happened
and
> did not happen here."
>
> The House highway corrections bill that passed a year ago returned the
$10
> million to the original I-75 project, but there has been no known
request
> for the House ethics committee to look into how the change took place.
> "That's something the ethics committee should look at," House Speaker
Nancy
> Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday at a news conference.
>
> The Senate put off a vote on another controversial amendment, a proposal
by
> presumed GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona to suspend
the
> 18.4 cent-a-gallon federal gas tax this summer to give drivers relief
from
> high gas prices.
>
> Fellow Arizona Republican Jon Kyl, who co-sponsored the amendment, said
it
> was "the one thing Congress can do and do immediately" to help drivers.
>
> But Kyl said they would not offer the amendment, avoiding a battle over
how
> to make up for an estimated $9 billion in lost revenues. The gas tax is
the
> main source of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund that provides grants
for
> highway and bridge construction and repair. McCain suggested taking
money
> from the Treasury's general fund, but Democrats said that would just
worsen
> the deficit. Democrats in turn were mulling a plan to raise more taxes
from
> oil cor****ations.
>
> The bill is H.R. 1195.
Don Young is the Rep from New Hamp****re isn't he? that is where his
million dollar house is, that is where he lives.
|
