I am not sure about the question. Are we being asked if Rogers will be the next chairman of the appropriations committee? That is up to the GOP House caucus.
If we are being asked if his appointment is appropriate, the answer is, what's new? Hypocrisy is the name of the game with Republicans everywhere.
The party that anguishes over the deficit while insisting on extending the budget-busting Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans, the one that insists that unemployment benefits must be paid for upfront while those tax cuts should be allowed to slide to future generations, that is the party of hypocrisy.
Is the 'Prince of Pork' the Next GOP Appropriations Chairman?
SodaHead Politics
2010/12/14 11:00:00
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33 votes
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17 votes
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27 votes
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He's just "keeping them honest."
CNN's Anderson Cooper has a problem with Kentucky GOP Rep. Hal Rogers' being named House Appropriations Committee chairman - namely, that the "Prince of Pork" has a lot of nerve telling anyone how best to spend tax dollars!
Cooper's report is below:
"Keeping Them Honest tonight: a politician who says we should all grab a shovel and start digging the government out of debt, who says he's committed to ensuring, in his words, that taxpayer money is being used appropriately. Sounds good.
"He's Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky. He will be the new chairman of the congressional committee that decides how your tax dollars are actually spent. And he's been called one of the biggest money-wasters in Congress. Of course, that comes from folks who don't actually live in his district, which is the beneficiary of an awful lot of that money.
"Now, I want to show you something he posted on his Web site, a column he wrote for Roll Call magazine. 'It's time,' he writes, 'to grab a big shovel with a sharp blade to start digging ourselves out of this $14 trillion mess.'
"The congressman goes on to write, 'We have got to go line by line and take an axe to programs that we simply can't afford.'
"Well, it sounds tough. And, as new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, he's going to be in a position to do just that. But, Keeping Them Honest tonight, Congressman Rogers only seems to talk the talk, not exactly walk the walk.
"Take a look at this. These are the earmarks, the pet projects for 2010 that Congressman Rogers got his rural district. There's 52 of them totaling $98.9 million, according to the nonpartisan group the Center for Responsive Politics, putting him in the top 20 percent of all congressional earmarkers.
"Now, some earmarks are totally -- of course totally legit. And you can judge for yourself if some of his are. For instance, he got a quarter-billion dollars in the last two years, including $52 million for a national center for hometown security. It's located right there in Somerset, Kentucky, which is Congressman Rogers' hometown, population -- wait for it -- 11,000.
"Well, the local airports have also gotten earmarks over the years, $17 million, even though the last commercial airline, well, they pulled out in February due to a lack of passengers. It's right down the road, by the way, from the Hal Rogers Parkway.
"In August, Citizens Against Government Waste named him their Porker of the Month. And according to The Lexington Herald- Journal, the congressman this summer pushed through a $5 million measure for conservation groups that work with cheetahs -- cheetahs in the wild.
"Now, I was surprised when I heard that, because I -- I didn't realize there were cheetahs in the wild in Kentucky. It turns out there's not.
"Cheetos, yes. Cheetahs, no. There is at least one cheetah- lover, however, in the state. Her name is Allison Rogers, and she's the congressman's daughter, who just so happens to work for a group called the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
"Now, the congressman denies any conflict of interests, because he says he's always been a champion of wildlife. And that may be. But conflict or not, it -- it kind of goes against the grain of his own statements about cutting spending and comments from his fellow Republicans on the campaign trail and after."
CNN's Anderson Cooper has a problem with Kentucky GOP Rep. Hal Rogers' being named House Appropriations Committee chairman - namely, that the "Prince of Pork" has a lot of nerve telling anyone how best to spend tax dollars!
Cooper's report is below:
"Keeping Them Honest tonight: a politician who says we should all grab a shovel and start digging the government out of debt, who says he's committed to ensuring, in his words, that taxpayer money is being used appropriately. Sounds good.
"He's Congressman Hal Rogers of Kentucky. He will be the new chairman of the congressional committee that decides how your tax dollars are actually spent. And he's been called one of the biggest money-wasters in Congress. Of course, that comes from folks who don't actually live in his district, which is the beneficiary of an awful lot of that money.
"Now, I want to show you something he posted on his Web site, a column he wrote for Roll Call magazine. 'It's time,' he writes, 'to grab a big shovel with a sharp blade to start digging ourselves out of this $14 trillion mess.'
"The congressman goes on to write, 'We have got to go line by line and take an axe to programs that we simply can't afford.'
"Well, it sounds tough. And, as new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, he's going to be in a position to do just that. But, Keeping Them Honest tonight, Congressman Rogers only seems to talk the talk, not exactly walk the walk.
"Take a look at this. These are the earmarks, the pet projects for 2010 that Congressman Rogers got his rural district. There's 52 of them totaling $98.9 million, according to the nonpartisan group the Center for Responsive Politics, putting him in the top 20 percent of all congressional earmarkers.
"Now, some earmarks are totally -- of course totally legit. And you can judge for yourself if some of his are. For instance, he got a quarter-billion dollars in the last two years, including $52 million for a national center for hometown security. It's located right there in Somerset, Kentucky, which is Congressman Rogers' hometown, population -- wait for it -- 11,000.
"Well, the local airports have also gotten earmarks over the years, $17 million, even though the last commercial airline, well, they pulled out in February due to a lack of passengers. It's right down the road, by the way, from the Hal Rogers Parkway.
"In August, Citizens Against Government Waste named him their Porker of the Month. And according to The Lexington Herald- Journal, the congressman this summer pushed through a $5 million measure for conservation groups that work with cheetahs -- cheetahs in the wild.
"Now, I was surprised when I heard that, because I -- I didn't realize there were cheetahs in the wild in Kentucky. It turns out there's not.
"Cheetos, yes. Cheetahs, no. There is at least one cheetah- lover, however, in the state. Her name is Allison Rogers, and she's the congressman's daughter, who just so happens to work for a group called the Cheetah Conservation Fund.
"Now, the congressman denies any conflict of interests, because he says he's always been a champion of wildlife. And that may be. But conflict or not, it -- it kind of goes against the grain of his own statements about cutting spending and comments from his fellow Republicans on the campaign trail and after."
Read More: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnns-anderson-cooper-pu...
That's all I got.
I'd love to hear the argument of how these people are not intentionally attempting to destroy us economically. obama will sign the pork fest proving he is in on the scheme. That is my prediction.
Maybe he is the wrong man for the job but you make it sound like all republicans had a choice in his appointment to that seat.
I do not recall being asked nor told about good ol Hal being the appropreations chairman.
We can ask Obama to find out for sure one he gets back from his what tenth vacation in his long long presidency.
No, no real surprise here.
"It was first introduced in the House of Representatives in 2004, years before Ms. Rogers came to work for CCF. When her father co-signed the bill, he was one of 88 Republican and Democrat co-sponsors. In 2009, the bill passed the House with a 2-1 majority but has not been voted on by the Senate. This bill has NOT been enacted and therefore not appropriated. No federal funds have been allocated to CCF while Ms. Rogers has worked with us."
http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=ha...
I mean seriously, if Fox of MSNBC ever did non-partisan investigations into congressmen and women the way AC does, we'd know a lot more about the idiots we vote in there.
We should never expect Congress to be honest with the people if they cannot be honest with themselves first. And we shouldn't expect newsworthy stories like this to sink in to the masses when they're too fixated on the journalist's sexual orientation to pay attention.
Didn't the democrats just force a vote not to eliminate earmarks? I would say they had every opportunity at that juncture.
4 days later, Congress passed a $284 billion transportation bill that contained 6371 earmarks ranging from $200,000 for a deer avoidance system in Weedsport, New York to $3 million for dust control mitigation on Arkansas’ rural roads.
It bothers me, though, that you are not aware the ban did not pass in Congress. Too many bills are being supported from liberals who aren't aware of what's happening in our government. We can't afford this level of ignorance of the facts.
Where's your awe? I see from looking at your profile that you are a liberal, that says it all.