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A gesture of ill will toward you
A Times Editorial
Published December 30, 2006
In his last act as speaker of the House, Rep. Dennis Hastert thumbed his nose at the American public. Already embarrassed by his see-no-evil role in the congressional page scandal, the Illinois Republican should have chosen a dignified exit from power. Instead, Hastert pulled one last dirty trick on taxpayers to benefit a political patron back home. One of the final acts of the current Congress was to pass a bill that contained a jumble of health care, tax and trade issues. Such bills often contain earmarks (political pork) for special interests, but even that wasn't good enough for Hastert. He waited until the final bill had been written, then using the House Rules Committee, he quietly slipped in four sentences that changed Medicare policy, the New York Times reported. Hastert's tweak of the law will allow a few managed-care plans to sign up new patients throughout the year rather than honor the established March 31 deadline. One of those lobbying for the change - and benefiting from it - was Aon Corp., an influential company from Hastert's state. Even fellow Republicans were appalled. "It disturbs me that this major policy change, one that treats some plans unfairly, was included at the last minute by the House Rules Committee," said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Democratic leaders who will take control of Congress next year promise to clean up the unseemly business of hiding personal earmarks in important legislation. Judging by the action of some Democrats, however, taxpayers should remain skeptical. Although his method wasn't as underhanded as Hastert's, Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic Party leader from Nevada, added his own earmarks to the bill: a federal land transfer to Nevada and a $4-million grant to a hospice back home. And there was more. Hawaii's two Democratic senators and retiring Sen. Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, got tens of millions of tax dollars for hospitals in their home states. As Hastert and the others leave behind the wreckage of the 109th Congress, their raised fingers don't mean they're No. 1.
[Last modified December 29, 2006, 22:13:22]
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by Bernard
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01/01/07 08:06 PM
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Pork as usual: Hastert has made millions through use of such measures BUT he is not alone. Politicians will continue this proctice until the voters take action. Monitor those we have elected
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by Jim
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12/30/06 10:33 AM
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Can you say "Representation Without Taxation"? Everybody has the right to stop this, but the majority has become so complacent and in their comfort zones they don't speak out for change!
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by Jim
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12/30/06 06:29 AM
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Why lament all this? With our politicians, as in all other things, we get what we pay for.
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by Tom
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12/30/06 05:58 AM
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Our national (and state) politicians continue to use their positions of trust to raid the public treasury. Is there any way taxpayers can sue them personally to get the money back?
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by Evan
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12/30/06 04:13 AM
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Six paragraphs on Hastert's Pork
One paragraph on Reid and two other Democrats and Frist a republican.
If the Board does not like Hastert,just have the nerve to say it.
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