But remember the Republicans are serious about government spending
Sen. Richard Shelby has put a blanket hold on some 70 Obama nominations. Not because he opposes them or anything. But because:
Shelby is holding Obama’s nominees hostage until a pair of lucrative programs that would send billions in taxpayer dollars to his home state get back on track. The two programs Shelby wants to move forward or else
Stuff like this and the previous administration and congress are why no one takes Republicans’ recent claims of small government, fiscal responsibility and accountability seriously.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:05 am
At least he’s selling himself for $40 billion – the Louisiana Democrat Senator Mary Landrieu (sp?) only got $300 million.
As the punchline to an old joke goes, “We’ve already determined what you are. Now we’re just haggling about the price.”
February 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Actually, his complaint is over stalling on the selection of the new Air Force tanker. Originally, a Northrup Gruman tanker was selected–it was to be built in Alabama. Boeing and its union pulled democrat strings and got the bidding restarted even though the military selected the other tanker (the article mentions none of this). The deal was stopped purely for political reasons, and not because the tanker selected was not best choice.
I’ve never even heard of that other project the article mentions (which is 100x smaller). I suspect that, without the shenanigans on the tanker project, he would not have placed the hold.
February 6th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
The tanker thing is a problem, and if other Republican senators that didn’t have a financial interest one way or the other were doing the hold, I might believe they were doing it out of concern for the legitimiacy of the appropriations project.
But when the only one doing it is the one with a direct interest in what he says is the best decision? Pardon me for thinking it’s just a convenient execuse for pursuing his own parochial interest and that he could really care less which tanker is actually better.
Indeed, if Shelton thinks it’s a problem, why not start bringing it up openly rather than quietly placing a hold?
February 7th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
The specific beef I have heard about the Northrup Grumman tanker is that it’s too heavy, and therefore needs a longer runway thank the current tanker or the plane Boeing entered into bidding. This makes it impossible for the plane to take off or land from some bases currently in use. Those bases are still part of the Air Force warfighting plan.
February 8th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Yeah, Republicans are very particular about government spending. This should be the attitude of a republican. Much better than anybody else. Can this also be the attitude of the minority?