Posted by
Defend America on Tuesday, February 16, 2010 7:32:15 PM
Rachel Maddow throws a cheap shot at an honest vote
By: Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
February 16, 2010
It
started with President Obama's much-praised appearance before House
Republicans on Jan. 29. Discussing last year's $787 billion stimulus
bill, Obama accused the GOP of hypocrisy, saying lawmakers are
returning to their districts to take credit for federal spending they
opposed in Washington. "A lot of you have gone to appear at
ribbon-cuttings for the same projects that you voted against," Obama
said.
Fast-forward to Sunday's "Meet the Press." Illinois Republican Rep.
Aaron Schock was taking part in a discussion that included the lefty
MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow. When Schock denounced pork-laden
federal spending, Maddow hit him with Obama's talking point.
"Just this week you were at a community college touting a $350,000
green technology education program, talking about how great that was
going to be for your district," she said to Schock. "You voted against
the bill that created that grant. And so that's happening a lot with
Republicans sort of taking credit for things that Democratic bills do,
and then Republicans simultaneously touting their votes against them
and trashing them.
...
But what point had Maddow really made? Perhaps that it's cheap and
easy to criticize a lawmaker's vote, but harder to actually deal with
the issues it presents.
The spending to which Maddow referred was a grant to Lincoln Land
Community College in Springfield, Ill. It was to buy equipment for
training students to install cutting-edge environmental technologies
required in new home construction.
The original $350,000 request was placed in the Education
Department's appropriations bill last year by none other than Schock.
(He was working with another GOP congressman, John Shimkus, who
represents the district next to Schock's.) It turns out Lincoln Land
asked Schock for help in getting the money. Schock thought it was a
worthy project and wrote a request for inclusion in the education bill.
But the bill never passed. As it often does, Congress put off
approving major spending measures until the end of the year. As
December approached, Democratic leaders wrapped the education
appropriation into a giant $447 billion omnibus spending bill that also
included funding for the Transportation, Housing, Justice, State,
Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services departments,
among others. The bill contained, in the words of a Washington Post
report, "thousands of earmarks and double-digit increases for several
cabinet agencies." It also included, deep inside its 2,500 pages,
Schock's request for Lincoln Land Community College.
...
So Schock voted no. But what about the request for Lincoln Land? How
did Schock reconcile voting against the omnibus bill when it contained
money for his own district?
"I have two responsibilities," Schock explains. "The first is to
advocate for responsible federal spending, and the second is to
advocate for my district's fair share of that federal spending. I don't
see those responsibilities as mutually exclusive."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Rachel-Maddow-throws-a-cheap-shot-at-an-honest-vote-84414382.html