Who Cares? (Quote of the Week IV)
It is comforting to know that the folks in Congress are all about responsible oversight of the leviathan that is our federal government. I guess we taxpayers should just shut up and Obey.
U.S. Rep. David Obey (D-WI), the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, helped write the bill and says he doesn’t like being asked about earmarks.
“We simply made a decision, which took about three seconds, not to have earmarks in the bill,” he says. “And with all due respect, that’s the least important question facing us on putting together this package.”
Leaving out the earmarks does mean Congress will have less control over how the money is spent. But, Obey says, “So what? This is an emergency. We’ve got to simply find a way to get this done as fast as possible and as well as possible, and that’s what we’re doing.”
That doesn’t mean Congress will be responsible if the money is spent badly, he says.
“The person who spends the money badly will be responsible. We are simply trying to build as many protections in as possible,” Obey says. “We have more oversight built into this package than any package in the history of man. If money is spent badly, we want to know about it so we can hold accountable the people who made that choice. And guess what? Regardless of what we do, there will be some stupid decisions made.”
“We have more oversight built into this package than any package in the history of man”?
Slut.
It seems to me that Congress will share the responsibility if it’s spent badly. Although he’s right that at least some of it will be badly spent. The question is how large that fraction is (some might suggest it’s “all of it”).
Comment by Adam — 2/6/2009 @ 10:08 pm