By an overwhelming majority, Senators have voted against a 1 year moratorium on pork spending.

Even the entreaties of the three senators running for president weren’t enough to persuade their colleagues Thursday to curb their appetite for earmarks — the practice of designating federal dollars for pet projects.

Senators soundly rejected a one-year moratorium backed by the presidential hopefuls — Republican John McCain and Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — even though it put senators from both parties at odds with their presidential contenders.

The vote — 29 in favor of the proposal, 71 opposed — again demonstrated the enduring popularity of earmarks, even though they have figured prominently in recent congressional scandals, including one that landed former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham of Rancho Santa Fe in prison.

The writer for the LA Times somehow was under the impression that Democrats who voted against the bill would be at odds with both Obama, and Hillary, I disagree. The vote by Obama and Clinton was primarily a showcase vote to avoid attacks from McCain in the general election. At no point was this bill “in danger” of passing, as Congressman have proven time and again they will not give up their pork.

Of the three Presidential candidates, McCain was the only one who had not requested any earmarks this year, leading me to believe that his vote in favor of the bill was genuine. Hillary had requested over $300 million in earmarks, and Obama close to $100 million including $1 million for the hospital where his wife works.

In Obama’s defense, at least he was willing to release his earmark requests to let the American people see where he would like to spend their money. Hillary has refused to do so as of yet, with her spokesman noting that she had supported a one-year moratorium on earmarks to “give the Congress time to take a hard look at this process and work on improving its transparency and accountability.”

So although Hillary believes their should be more “transparency”, she is not willing to be “transparent’ herself unless mandated by Congress. If she truly believed Congress needs to improve its transparency, she should lead by example as Obama did and release her earmarks voluntarily.

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Barack Obama, Congress, Dumb Dems, Earmarks, Election 2008, Features, Hillary Clinton, Politics