Keith Ashdown
Keith Ashdown
simple
We would have been much, much better off with no bill. Everything they did, there's a simple way around it.
disease preventing symptom tools troops
Those 2,966 earmarks are a symptom of a disease that is preventing our troops from getting the tools they need.
business people
We need to get out of the business of subsidizing people who are in harm's way.
backyard considered fund gas industry items members oil powerful slush worst
We considered it one of the worst items in the bill. It's a slush fund for the oil and gas industry that would have been in the backyard of one of the more powerful members in Congress.
contention costs cut deficit derived five half hopes including inevitable itself large likely next proposals tall
With all these new programs, the administration's contention that the deficit will be cut in half in the next five years is a tall tale, derived in large part by omitting very likely or inevitable costs, including costs for proposals the administration itself hopes and intends to support.
businesses happens runs thousands type yard
There are probably thousands of businesses that need this type of help, but this happens to be in the back yard of the lawmaker who runs the subcommittee.
cunningham duke trading
Under this bill, Duke Cunningham still would be able to get away with trading bribes for earmarks.
almost bottom cost cut expensive final local money needs paying people pyramid
It's trickle-down contracting: You're paying a cut at every level, and it makes the final cost exponentially more expensive than it needs to be. And in almost every case, the local people who really need to be making the money are at the bottom of these upside-down pyramid schemes.
case cloud complete dave loses
Dave Weldon is the one who loses the most here because he isn't going out of his way to show his complete record. He's going to let this case cloud his reputation.
question
It's not a question of when, it's now.
benefit coast contracts corporate economic flow good gulf looks miles pressure stays thousands
It looks like they're going to do what they should have done in the first place. There's been a lot of pressure on them to make sure that the economic benefit of these contracts stays in the Gulf Coast and doesn't flow to corporate boardrooms thousands of miles away. So in that respect, this is good news.
deserve hard train turn
It's hard to turn around a train in Washington, and they deserve credit.
bargaining believe chip move road senators sending thrown
It's sending shivers down the spines of a lot of senators. They've thrown down the gauntlet here to other people. I believe this is probably a bargaining chip to try to move senators down the road to more earmarking reform.
budget chance costs gimmick gives
It's just become a budget gimmick on steroids. It just gives them a chance to take those costs off budget.