Porkbuster Bill Passes House-It's Law

[Annie]

How they voted, send them a note, thanking or chastising:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2006/roll449.xml

FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 449
(Republicans in roman; Democrats in italic; Independents underlined)

H RES 1003 RECORDED VOTE 14-Sep-2006 5:33 PM
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Resolution
BILL TITLE: Providing for the adoption of the resolution (H. Res. 1000) providing for earmarking reform in the House of Representatives

Ayes Noes PRES NV
Republican 199 24 8
Democratic 45 147 9
Independent 1
TOTALS 245 171 17


---- AYES 245 ---

Akin
Alexander
Bachus
Baird
Barrett (SC)
Barrow
Bartlett (MD)
Barton (TX)
Bass
Bean
Beauprez
Biggert
Bilbray
Bilirakis
Blackburn
Blunt
Boehlert
Boehner
Bonner
Bono
Boozman
Boren
Boswell
Boustany
Bradley (NH)
Brady (TX)
Brown (OH)
Brown (SC)
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capito
Cardin
Castle
Chabot
Chocola
Coble
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Cooper
Crenshaw
Cubin
Cuellar
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (KY)
Davis (TN)
Davis, Jo Ann
Davis, Tom
Deal (GA)
DeFazio
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Doggett
Doolittle
Drake
Dreier
Duncan
Edwards
Ehlers
English (PA)
Eshoo
Everett
Feeney
Ferguson
Filner
Fitzpatrick (PA)
Flake
Foley
Ford
Fortenberry
Fossella
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Gallegly
Garrett (NJ)
Gerlach
Gibbons
Gilchrest
Gillmor
Gingrey
Gohmert
Goode
Goodlatte
Gordon
Graves
Green (WI)
Gutknecht
Hall
Harman
Harris
Hart
Hastert
Hastings (WA)
Hayes
Hayworth
Hefley
Hensarling
Herger
Hoekstra
Holt
Hooley
Hostettler
Hulshof
Hunter
Hyde
Inglis (SC)
Israel
Issa
Istook
Jefferson
Jenkins
Jindal
Johnson (CT)
Johnson (IL)
Jones (NC)
Kelly
Kennedy (MN)
Kind
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kirk
Kline
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Langevin
LaTourette
Leach
Lewis (KY)
Linder
LoBiondo
Lucas
Lungren, Daniel E.
Lynch
Mack
Maloney
Manzullo
Marchant
Matheson
McCarthy
McCaul (TX)
McCotter
McCrery
McHenry
McHugh
McIntyre
McKeon
McMorris Rodgers
Meehan
Melancon
Mica
Millender-McDonald
Miller (FL)
Miller (MI)
Miller, Gary
Moran (KS)
Murphy
Musgrave
Myrick
Neugebauer
Norwood
Nunes
Nussle
Osborne
Otter
Oxley
Paul
Pearce
Pence
Petri
Pitts
Platts
Poe
Pombo
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (GA)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Ramstad
Rehberg
Reichert
Renzi
Reynolds
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (MI)
Rohrabacher
Ros-Lehtinen
Royce
Ryan (WI)
Ryun (KS)
Salazar
Sanders
Saxton
Schmidt
Schwarz (MI)
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shaw
Shays
Sherman
Shimkus
Shuster
Simmons
Smith (NJ)
Smith (TX)
Sodrel
Souder
Spratt
Stearns
Sullivan
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Taylor (MS)
Taylor (NC)
Terry
Thomas
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Tiberi
Tierney
Turner
Upton
Van Hollen
Walden (OR)
Wamp
Waters
Weldon (FL)
Weldon (PA)
Weller
Westmoreland
Whitfield
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (SC)
Wu

---- NOES 171 ---

Abercrombie
Ackerman
Aderholt
Allen
Andrews
Baldwin
Becerra
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blumenauer
Bonilla
Boucher
Boyd
Brady (PA)
Brown, Corrine
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carson
Carter
Chandler
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Conyers
Costa
Costello
Cramer
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (IL)
DeGette
Delahunt
DeLauro
Dicks
Dingell
Doyle
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
Etheridge
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gonzalez
Granger
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutierrez
Hastings (FL)
Herseth
Higgins
Hinchey
Hinojosa
Hobson
Holden
Honda
Hoyer
Inslee
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones (OH)
Kanjorski
Kaptur
Kennedy (RI)
Kildee
Kilpatrick (MI)
Kingston
Knollenberg
Kucinich
Lantos
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Latham
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lipinski
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Markey
Matsui
McCollum (MN)
McDermott
McGovern
McKinney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Michaud
Miller (NC)
Miller, George
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murtha
Nadler
Napolitano
Neal (MA)
Northup
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Owens
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Payne
Pelosi
Peterson (PA)
Pickering
Price (NC)
Rahall
Rangel
Regula
Reyes
Rogers (KY)
Ross
Rothman
Roybal-Allard
Ruppersberger
Ryan (OH)
Sabo
Sánchez, Linda T.
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schwartz (PA)
Scott (GA)
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sherwood
Simpson
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Stark
Stupak
Sweeney
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Towns
Udall (CO)
Udall (NM)
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walsh
Wasserman Schultz
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Wexler
Wicker
Wolf
Woolsey
Wynn
Young (AK)
Young (FL)

---- NOT VOTING 17 ---

Baca
Baker
Bishop (UT)
Case
Culberson
Davis (FL)
Evans
Forbes
Johnson, Sam
Keller
Kolbe
Marshall
Ney
Peterson (MN)
Rush
Sanchez, Loretta
Strickland

 

[Hobbit]

Yay!

 

[Annie]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-11-blogs-find-pork_x.htm

'Blogosphere' spurs government oversight
Posted 9/11/2006 10:47 PM ET
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — When watchdog groups that monitor federal spending wanted more information on 1,800 "pork barrel" projects buried in a House appropriations bill, they listed them on the Internet and asked readers to dig deeper. Within days, details began pouring in.

The same thing happened when Porkbusters.org enlisted readers of its website to find out which senator had blocked legislation that would create an online database of federal grants and contracts. One by one, senators were eliminated until Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., were uncovered.

The two episodes illustrate the latest trend in government oversight: More light is being thrown on Congress, not just by the media and public interest groups, but in the "blogosphere" where Internet users meet.

"It's probably the biggest expansion of government oversight that we'll ever have," says Thomas Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste, one of the groups pioneering the effort. "It will turn every American into a watchdog."

Producing results

Their involvement is getting action: House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised a vote this week on a rules change that would ensure the sponsors of individual projects are identified. And Republicans in the House and Senate say they will approve the national database this year.

The amateur investigators are people such as Jamie Peppard, an accountant from Long Island, N.Y., and serial blogger who writes under the name "Mrs. Panstreppon." She researched groups such as the Congressional Glaucoma Caucus Foundation, which stands to receive nearly $1.2 million to screen patients in New York, Texas and the Virgin Islands. She unearthed tax forms showing the foundation pays several six-figure salaries.

They're people like Mario Delgado, the publisher of Porkopolis, a Cincinnati-based blog that determined Ohio stands to gain nearly $34 million from 135 projects in the pending House appropriations bill that funds health, education and labor programs.

And they're people nationwide who called their senators to ask if they were blocking action on the database — an obscure bill that has become controversial because of senators' anonymous objections. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., credited the passion of the "blogosphere" for winning Senate passage last week.

"There are citizens in every community who either take this as their responsibility or as their joy — or maybe a little bit of both," says Zephyr Teachout, national director of the Sunlight Foundation, which seeks greater transparency in government. "Reporters and good-government groups can't do it on their own. There's a real need."

Advances in technology and communication now make it easier for average citizens to be researchers, reporters and muckrakers.

The model for many watchdog groups is the Center for Responsive Politics, whose website, opensecrets.org, puts information about lobbying and campaign finance into accessible formats for Internet users. "Citizens have been doing some really good work on their own," says Ellen Miller, who left the center to take charge of the Sunlight Foundation.

Citizens got involved last year when blogger Josh Marshall, publisher of TPM Muckraker, urged readers to find out which House Republicans voted in closed caucus to let indicted lawmakers keep their leadership posts. After a public outcry, Republicans reversed the vote. As a result, Texas' Tom DeLay had to step down as majority leader last year after being indicted on campaign finance charges.

Targeting 'earmarks'

Such citizen involvement peaked again this summer when watchdog groups ranging from the conservative Citizens Against Government Waste to the more liberal Sunlight Foundation sought to shed new light on congressional "earmarks," the individual projects lawmakers insert into spending bills.

Nearly 10,000 projects costing $29 billion were funded in the current fiscal year. It was another project, however — the so-called bridge to nowhere in Alaska, originally included in last year's highway bill for $223 million — that made the issue politically volatile.

"The bridge to nowhere certainly got some traction," says Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who supported it as part of the highway bill. His challenger in next week's primary, Steve Laffey, opposes all earmarks.

When word filtered out last month that a senator was refusing to let the database bill come to a vote, Porkbusters urged its online faithful to find out who it was. Nearly every senator denied involvement. Ultimately, Stevens and Byrd acknowledged objections.

Around the same time, a loose coalition of groups published a complete list of earmarks in the House version of Congress' biggest spending bill, each adding unique technological tools. Porkbusters breaks them down by state and keyword. Sunlight uses Google Maps to show where each project is located.

Bloggers such as Jamie Peppard took it from there. She dug into groups such as the glaucoma foundation, discovering that it paid $340,000 to its CEO and more than $100,000 each to a consultant and part-time treasurer.

"I'm an ordinary citizen who does not have to answer to shareholders or anyone else," Peppard says. "I also have the luxury of spending as much time on a particular project as I want to."

Government watchdogs say the new effort to reach and empower average citizens is a two-way street: It provides Americans with needed information and enables them to give some back.

"Maybe it really will be an empowering tool — the Internet leveling the playing field," says Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, which seeks greater government accountability and citizen participation. "If that's true, this is very, very exciting."

 

[insein]

Well thats damn good. Hopefully we will hear word of it's implementation in the near future.

On a side note, why must Democrats vote against anything Republicans endorse. I mean Obama was one of the sponsors for this in the Senate and yet 147 voted against this compared to only 24 Reps that voted against? I guess that shows you the kind of rats we have in Washington. Well maybe i should say CONFRIMS cause we all knew.

 

[Annie]

Well thats damn good. Hopefully we will hear word of it's implementation in the near future.

On a side note, why must Democrats vote against anything Republicans endorse. I mean Obama was one of the sponsors for this in the Senate and yet 147 voted against this compared to only 24 Reps that voted against? I guess that shows you the kind of rats we have in Washington. Well maybe i should say CONFRIMS cause we all knew.

The dems know that the reps will back, they don't have to make a big deal out of it. But when Obama runs for higher ticket, it will be cited.