Members of Congress from both parties are working behind the scenes to expand multi-billion dollar hurricane relief with pork-barrel spending unrelated to the storms.
The $2 billion relief bill passed into law was kept clean, but the $3.1 billion in additional relief requested by President Bush is getting loaded with money irrelevant to hurricanes. "Congress simply has no shame," said Tom Schatz of Citizens Against Government Waste, adding that the hurricanes have given the lawmakers an extra chance to pass pet projects in this Congress.
Leading the list of extras is home heating assistance for Northern dairy farmers. Also among the add-ons likely to be included are funds for Western firefighters, drought aid for the upper Great Plains and more money for the space program.
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, one of the most liberal of Republican congressmen, Tuesday won an unexpectedly easy Republican nomination for a 12th term from his upstate New York district after receiving support from abortion rights activists, the White House and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Boehlert in 2000 defeated conservative Dr. David Walrath by fewer than 3,000 votes but this time won with 58 percent of the vote against the same opponent. Gingrich surprised conservatives by campaigning for his onetime comrade in the House despite Boehlert's 39 percent lifetime
American Conservative Union rating. Earlier, presidential senior adviser Karl Rove attended a Boehlert fund-raiser in keeping with White House support for all Republican incumbents.
In 2002, Boehlert received the third largest amount of pro-choice contributions among all House members. The $33,700 given him this election cycle was $24,700 more than House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi received.