VALLEY TO LOSE IN CUTBACK LEAN PROJECTS TO SUFFER AS DEMOCRATS ATTACK PORK.Byline: LISA The first personal computer to include integrated software and use a graphical interface. Modeled after the Xerox Star and introduced in 1983 by Apple, it was ahead of its time, but never caught on due to its $10,000 price and slow speed. FRIEDMAN Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- The Southland stands to lose more than $111 million for everything from hospitals to road improvements next year as Democrats vow to strip legislators' pet projects out of the federal budget. The looming cuts are certain to squeeze hundreds of projects from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. to San Bernardino San Bernardino, city, United States San Bernardino (săn bûr'nədē`nō), city (1990 pop. 164,164), seat of San Bernardino co., S Calif., at the foot of the San Bernardino Mts.; inc. 1854. , drawing the ire of local officials who say important programs are being unfairly punished for years of reckless spending in Washington, dramatized in debate over $320 million earmarked earlier this year for a bridge to connect two sparsely populated communities in rural Alaska. Supporters of the Armory Center of the Arts of Pasadena, which provides free after-school and weekend art projects for children, had hoped the center would receive $50,000 to expand its programs in underserved neighborhoods. ``This is not a `bridge to nowhere,''' noted Scott Ward, director of the center, about the $50,000. The money, secured as part of a social services social services Noun, pl welfare services provided by local authorities or a state agency for people with particular social needs social services npl → servicios mpl sociales funding bill by Rep. Adam Schiff
Adam B. Schiff (born June 20 1960) is an American politician. He first served in the California State Senate. , D-Pasadena, is a bit of the hundreds of millions for congressional pet projects expected to be eliminated in the pending budget. The crackdown comes as the Congressional Research Service The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a branch of the Library of Congress that provides objective, nonpartisan research, analysis, and information to assist Congress in its legislative, oversight, and representative functions. U.S. calculates that earmarks -- items in spending bills used by lawmakers to bring home the bacon to their states -- have soared from about 3,000 in 1996 to 13,000 this year. The costly Alaska bridge, an earmark earmark taking a piece out of the edge or center of the ear with a punch as an identification mark. The shape of the mark may be registerable under local legislation. by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, became a lightning rod lightning rod, a rod made of materials, especially metals, that are good conductors of electricity, which is mounted on top of a building or other structure and attached to the ground by a cable. for voter outrage over congressional appropriations when it was disclosed that it would connect 8,000 residents of Ketchikan with 50 residents of the Island of Gravina. This month, Democrats targeted such pork-barrel items when the GOP-led Congress adjourned after passing only two of 11 appropriations bills needed to fund the federal budget through Sept. 30. Republicans passed a continuing resolution A continuing resolution is a type of appropriations legislation used by the United States Congress to fund government agencies if a formal appropriations bill has not been signed into law by the end of the Congressional fiscal year. to keep the government operating for the fiscal year that began in October, but effectively dumped the unfinished job in the lap of Democrats who will control the House and Senate next year. Stripping earmarks Last week, incoming Appropriations Chairmen Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin said they plan to expedite the budget by approving overall spending bills at last fiscal year's levels -- stripped of earmarks. Passing a second continuing resolution through Sept. 30, as Democrats plan to do, will effectively negate most earmarks and much of the horse-trading that has become a symbol of annual spending measures. While the suspension is temporary -- earmark funding could be reopened in 2008 -- both chairmen vowed to reform the system to create transparency and accountability. Reforms have not yet been identified, but some Democratic and GOP leaders have proposed measures including ensuring lawmakers' names are attached to any earmark inserted into a bill. But Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said the immediate move to cut earmarks hurts his district. His funding losses will include money for a cross-valley connector road and perchlorate perchlorate: see chlorate. cleanup. ``I fight hard for appropriations, and I fight hard for earmarks,'' he said. ``It's the only way that our district gets any help.'' But Schiff, calling the earmarking  It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled Earmark (USA). process ``out of
control,'' said the temporary ban is painful to his and other
districts, but necessary.
``Those late-night, backroom back·room n. or back room 1. A room located at the rear. 2. The meeting place used by an inconspicuous controlling group. adj. 1. deals -- that's got to stop, and I think it will stop,'' said Schiff, who was recently appointed to the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, said he has been calling local officials to break the news, but agreed that elimination of earmarks is needed. ``Republicans left us with bills that have a lot of problems. We're making the best of a bad situation,'' he said. Jo Maney, spokeswoman for Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, blamed the Senate for failing to enact spending measures but agreed reform is needed. Some skeptical Other Republicans, meanwhile, called Democrats' move an empty gesture disguised as real reform. ``The Democrats don't have it in their power to have real reform,'' said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach/Long Beach. ``Why are they trying to fool people with some silly maneuver that doesn't change anything in the long run?'' Steve Ellis, spokesman for the D.C.-based watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) is an nonpartisan federal budget watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C. in the United States. TCS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; its 501(c)(4) affiliate is Taxpayers for Common Sense Action (TCS Action). , agreed that eliminating pork projects for a year does not amount to real reform. In addition to transparency, Ellis said, Congress must consider a drastic scale-back. ``We don't have to have 12,000 earmarks like we did last year or 15,000 like we did before that. We can start ramping the numbers back down,'' he said. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , however, directors of local programs like the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda are reconfiguring their budgets. ``We had hoped to use this money for part of our continuing renovations,'' said Molly Forrest, president of the home for senior citizens that had received a $150,000 earmark secured by Sherman. ``We're disappointed at this moment but hopeful that such funding will be provided at a later date,'' Forrest said. lisa.friedman(at)langnews.com (202) 662-8731 CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Molly Forrest leads a recent tour in the lobby of the Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer Medical Center, part of the Jewish Home for the Aging that may lose funding when Congress reconvenes. Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer |
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