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Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Pots, Kettles, and the Ironic Blackness of the U.S. Senate
Earlier today we blogged about Sen. Stevens' (R-AK) "secret" hold on legislation of a fellow Senator - Tom Coburn (R-OK). We speculated that the reason Stevens' office gave for the hold was probably about as accurate as OMB's deficit projections have been over the past few years.
But what is the reason? Obviously, the shenanigans that occurred last fall over the bridge-to-nowhere earmark are a prime suspect as the two players were trading barbs front and center. Coburn offered the amendment to strip the funding for the bridge and divert it to reconstruct the Twin Spans Bridge in New Orleans while Stevens gave an impassioned defense of the funding that would benefit his state and the 50 folks on Gravina Island.
Case closed, right? Maybe not. We already commented on the irony of a bill promoting transparency and disclosure being blocked by a "secret" hold. But the irony of this story doesn't end there. We unearthed this eerily-foreboding Roll Call article from last summer where our two favorite Senators were once again front and center, but with a deliriously ironic twist. This time it was Coburn who, back in March 2005, was putting holds on bills coming out of Stevens' Commerce Committee - one which Stevens himself had written.
Though Coburn did not acknowledge putting holds on all four bills, but he did admit to putting a hold on one of Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) ocean research bills.
But that's not even the best part. The article goes on to talk about how Coburn will use holds as a tool to accomplish his goals whether people like it or not, in addition to "air[ing] his views about wasteful and unnecessary government spending" through his subcommittee chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee - the very same committee that Coburn's database bill emerged from. Seriously folks, you can't make this stuff up.
So, what goes around comes around I suppose. Or, maybe it's...what's good for the goose if good for the gander?
Posted by Adam Hughes
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