The 11 House Democrats led by Rep. Bart Stupak who dropped their opposition to health care reform legislation mere hours before the final vote have requested $3.4 billion in earmarks -- and one watchdog group wants to know whether the money represents business as usual or political payoffs.Noooooo. No connection at all.
The Sunlight Foundation says it plans to track the earmark requests, which were put in one day after health care reform cleared Congress, to see whether they're approved and whether it appears lawmakers are being rewarded for their vote.
"We know that in Congress one of the ways that leadership tries to influence members is through earmarks," said Bill Allison, editorial director at the nonpartisan organization. "So this seemed to us something good to follow."
Stupak and the 10 other Democrats were critical to the success of the health care bill. They were holding out over concerns about funding for abortion coverage but announced the president had assuaged their worries -- with an executive order restricting abortion funding -- the morning of the big vote.
Stupak's office said there's absolutely no link between the earmarks and the health care bill's passage.
Bart Stupak may end up being the biggest loser (besides the American people) in this whole Obamacare mess. He's now the poster boy for selling his morals for a few bucks and I doubt he'll survive November.
1 comment:
Stupak can now join the "30 Pieces of Silver" crowd.
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