Bush Hesitant About Ethics Bill
By James Benton
Posted on Fri Aug 03, 2007 at 11:00:46 AM EST
This just in from the department of I Am Not Making This Up: After all the work to pass an ethics and lobbying reform bill, and passing both houses of Congress by overwhelming margins, President Bush is hesitant about signing the bill.
The White House, according to the Los Angeles Times, is worried that the bill doesn't go far enough to shed light on earmarks. White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore told the Times the administration "was concerned that the earmark provisions were not 'as strong as we'd like.' As to whether Bush would sign it, she said, 'We're continuing to review the legislation.'
What?
When I first heard this, I thought: Since when did Bush care about a bill to change Senate ethics rules? About the same time he decided Dick Cheney was in the legislative branch and not the executive branch?
What it boils down to is this: The bill requires senators to publicly disclose an earmark and its sponsor. But critics complained that the Senate majority leader and committee chairs are required to certify whether earmark disclosure rules were being followed.
We're not happy about the compromise. But remember, it's because of senators like Jim DeMint, who blocked this bill from going to conference in the first place, that brought everyone to where we are today.
We also lost an ally on this issue in John McCain, who decided to take a shot at us in the Times for supporting this bill. "I'm sorry that they are supporting this measure," he said. "But I know, even better than them, how this system works."
More later as it happens...
Tags: ethics in government, ethics, lobby reform, Bush, John McCain, Jim DeMint (all tags)
You are not logged in.
In order to post a comment, you must be logged in. If you have a member account, please log in to comment.
If not, you can make an account just by filling out the form below. It's quick and free.
