Porkers win the day, again

A few days ago, I remarked that the DeMint-McCain earmark moratorium was likely to pass the Senate, as both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had signed on. Thinking that, with the next President of the United States and the nominee of the other party on board, along with an overwhelming majority of the American public, most Senators would also fall in line. That goes to show you just how naïve I am. The moratorium failed, badly, 29-71.

A Politico article quotes the King of Pork, Robert Byrd, stating,

"[earmarks] may be [for] a road that has fallen into dangerous disrepair or a bridge that is on the verge of collapse. An earmark is an economic need that many times falls between the cracks of the Washington bureaucracy."

Of course, no one requested an earmark for the Minnesota bridge that did collapse—instead they requested earmarks that took money away from transportation infrastructure.

While the Club for Growth, The Swine Line (CAGW), Government Bytes (NTU) shame the "NO" voters (with numbers to call to chew them out), FreedomTalks (FreedomWorks) and ATR praises the Senators who voted for the moratorium (also with numbers, though Pennsylvania residents should look to the former list).

More on the earmark vote from Michelle Malkin and the Heritage Foundation.

Also, check out Sen. Tom Coburn's piece about earmarks and the founder on National Review online.