REPUBLICANS in Congress failed to finish their work on their major appropriations bills before packing up and heading home — some for good. As a result, millions of dollars worth of special projects in Oklahoma are left wanting because the Democrats who now run the show say they don't plan to revisit those bills.
It would be easy to pop the Democrats for this turn of events, but the Republicans have only themselves to blame. The spending bills were supposed to be taken care of by the first of October, when the GOP still controlled the House and Senate. But only two made it by the deadline and were sent to the president. Democrats, who took control of Congress after the midterm elections, have passed a resolution to keep government operating at current levels until early next year, and that's likely to be extended to next fall.
Our delegation had secured funding for dozens of special projects, or earmarks, and so not getting that funding may lead to delays or even elimination of projects. Sen. Tom Coburn, who has fought earmarks during his two years on the job, said projects in the unfinished bills are "dead from an earmark standpoint,” and that he's OK with the Democrats' decision because of the money that will be saved.
Coburn, R-Muskogee, mentioned to us recently the $11 billion — that's with a B — worth of earmarks included in the recent Defense Department bill in pointing out that earmarks "never get oversight” once the money is appropriated. He said his criteria in separating the spending wheat from the chaff are: Is what's called for in the bill a legitimate role of the federal government? Is it already being done by the state? Does it make sense in a list of priorities?
Some items on the Oklahoma list, such as funding for work on Interstate 40 and on the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System, would seem to pass muster using that formula. Others might not.
That West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd is one of the members who placed a moratorium on earmarks provides a comic twist, given the truckloads of special-projects money Byrd has delivered to his home state during his long career. That irony aside, there is something to be said for the push by Coburn and others to illuminate these earmarks and subject them to thorough vetting by Congress, even if at times that can be painful.
