The (Non) Trouble With Harry (12/06)

I mentioned Harry Reid a few minutes ago, and here he is again; this Inquirer story reported over the weekend that Reid was somehow guilty of the type of “dead of night” legislating that he decried under the Repug U.S. Congressional leadership.

In their words, Reid “slipped” a couple of home-state items into the last major bill passed by the now-happily-over 109th Congress. The first item pertained to federal land that will now be turned over to state and private control (the land in question is reportedly two-thirds the size of Rhode Island), and the second had to do with appropriating $4 million for a hospice.

Well, once you get past the screaming headline of “There Goes Harry Reid And Another Double Standard” which falls apart like tissue paper the minute its held up to scrutiny (and speaking of John Solomon of the AP by the way – he of the Harry Reid “hit” pieces about the boxing tickets and the property Reid legally held in trust without the benefit of earmarks – a big fat raspberry goes out to the Washington Post for hiring this slug), what you find out is that the land appropriation was something Reid discussed at length with Ways And Means Committee Chairman Repug Bill Thomas, but Thomas forgot to include it in the bill and Reid was reminding of it. You also find out in the very last paragraph that the other Senator of Nevada, Repug John Ensign, approved the land transfer also.

And as far as criticizing Reid for appropriating money for a hospice, I’m not even going to dignify that with a response.

And one more thing – inevitably, whenever you hear a Repug complain about spending too much (which is truly laughable given the horrific non-oversight of the recently departed Congress), the person who is usually the most visible on this is Judd Gregg of New Hampshire of the Appropriations, Budget, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committees.

Regarding Senate appropriations, this takes you to a list of votes by Gregg, and as you can see, he basically voted for everything except the following amendments:

Transit Security Amendment
Influenza Vaccine Injury Compensation Amendment
After School Funding Amendment
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Amendment
Air Cargo Security Programs Implementation Amendment
Future Military Funding for Iraq Amendment

So Gregg has no right to complain about “budget busting," deficit-spending appropriations now or ever!

Update 1/22/07: Here's more on (moron?) Gregg...