Sen. Shelby (R-AL): Porker Of The Month!

The Constellation Program was intended to modernize NASA and replace the aging Space Shuttle, but has been plagued by cost overruns and blown deadlines. President Obama and NASA have proposed canceling the unsustainable program—turning instead to the emerging private space industry to oversee launches.

In response, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) co-sponsored a measure protecting Constellation, which was attached to an emergency war funding bill. Such a measure ensures millions of taxpayer dollars will continue being funneled to politically connected NASA contractors.

Contractors like Alabama's own Radiance Technologies, which—wouldn't you know it—just happens to be one of Shelby's biggest campaign contributors.

Repealing the 17th Amendment would do more than allow state legislatures to exercise greater oversight over Senators than the people do, it would also allow the people to focus their attention on the House instead of trying to keep track of two federal legislatures. The political parties love making the political system as complex as possible so that it's difficult to follow. The more difficult it is to see what's going on, the less that people will try.

That's how they can get away with this stuff.

Hat tip: ReasonTV

Sen. Cochran (R-MS) Wins "Porker of the Year"

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For the third year in a row, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran ran away with the title of the biggest earmarker. The ranking Republican on the powerful appropriations committee snagged $490 million for 240 pet projects.

...

But many lawmakers can't ignore the anti-spending sentiment sweeping the nation.

House Democrats recently swore off earmarks to for-profit companies while House Republicans agreed to shun all earmarks for a year. The result: pork-barrel spending is actually down, from $19.6 billion in 2009 to $16.5 billion in 2010 - and nearly half of that spending was requested anonymously.

The idea that it's not vote-buying just because it's not a for-profit company is just stupid. Also, it should be noted that earmarks aren't down because lawmakers think they are bad. Earmarks are down because the people are paying more attention right now. Politicians will do whatever they can get away with.

Senator Cochran is one of a hundred reasons to repeal the 17th Amendment.

The Pork Party House

Politicians from both parties and from both the House and the Senate have their own special, taxpayer-funded party house. Via ReasonTV:



Update: Ed Morrissey adds "Landrieu got notoriety for her Louisiana Purchase in the Senate version of ObamaCare, but this is perhaps even less defensible. The buy-off on ObamaCare was intended to cushion the blow of federal mandates on Medicaid that ObamaCare creates in Louisiana. What interest does the Sewall-Belmont House payoff serve for her constituents?"

Unprecedented Pork Bought Senate Votes

With the bill hanging in the balance, Nelson won a provision exempting his state from paying the usual share of costs for new Medicaid patients. The deal critics have dubbed the Cornhusker Kickback is expected to cost the federal government $100 million over 10 years.

Before a close vote last month, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) won an even larger break for her state — an estimated $300 million in extra federal spending, in a move opponents derided as the Louisiana Purchase.

Some critics branded the special deals as functionally equivalent to the kind of earmarks Obama crusaded against as a senator — and a quantum leap from eleventh-hour deals Obama’s predecessors have cut.

After Nelson and Landrieu, what will key congressional swing votes want from future White Houses?

“It’s a much bigger deal, a much larger piece of legislation than half-a-million dollars for a peanut museum in North Carolina,” said Thomas Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste. “We’re now talking about programs worth hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. ... Sooner or later, other members are going to be saying: Why didn’t I think of this?”

“Once people see a leader willing to take these kinds of deals, people have a tendency to withhold their votes until they get a similar deal. ... If you hold out, you, too, can be Ben Nelson, perhaps,” said Diana Evans, a Trinity College political science professor who studies the greasing done to pass legislation.

The Senate will pass the bill on Christmas Eve, and from there it will go into conference to craft a single bill from the House and Senate bills.

Christmas ham, anyone?

Hat tip: Hot Air