Previewing a Democratic House Majority: Hold on to your Wallet

The very first thing Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy talks about in the biographical section of his official Congressional website is his work on the House Appropriations Committee...

Patrick J. Kennedy is serving his sixth term in Congress as the representative from the First District of Rhode Island.

Kennedy was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee in December 1998, but requested a leave of absence in order to fulfill a two-year term as the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. With the term completed, Kennedy now sits on the powerful panel which has authority over all of the federal government's discretionary spending. As part of his Appropriations duties, Kennedy sits on the Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and on Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary.

I hope that Congressman Kennedy considers the national interest in his work on the Appropriations Committee, something that his Appropriations Committee colleague Jim Moran of Virginia apparently believes to be largely unnecessary. This is how Congressman Moran, in the Arlington Sun-Gazette, talks about his plans for the future if the Democrats retake a majority in the House...

Moran, D-8th, told those attending the Arlington County Democratic Committee's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner on June 9 that while he in theory might oppose the fiscal irresponsibility of "earmarks" - funneling money to projects in a member of Congress's district - he understands the value they have to constituents.

"When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I'm going to earmark the sh** out of it," Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.

Is Congressman Moran speaking only for himself here, or expressing the philosophy shared by all Congressional Democrats? I've contacted Congressman Kennedy's office to try to find out.

Remember Congressman Moran when Democrats make their arguments for why taxes must be rasied. It's not that more money is needed to address real needs; it's that Congressional chairmen want to take control of more of your money in order to bolster their power.