PorkBusters Update: Rep. DeGette finally responds
Posted by Richard on November 5, 2005
It’s been over six weeks since I asked Colorado’s senators and representatives if they’d agree to cancel six specific Colorado pork projects to help pay for Hurricane Katrina relief. The blogosphere has moved on to PorkBusters v. 2.0. But today, I finally received a reply from my own representative, Dianne DeGette. Well, it purports to be a reply, although — like Salazar, Allard, and Udall before her — DeGette simply ignores my request for specific answers regarding six specific projects.
DeGette goes further, though, and has the nerve to actually misrepresent my position to me. I suppose she (or someone on her staff) thinks that if she tells me I agree with her, I will. Here’s her letter in full:
Dear Richard :
Thank you for contacting me about how best we can pay for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. I am pleased to learn your views and appreciate the opportunity to share mine.
Like you, I believe the Republican-led Congress is out-of-touch and has sorely misplaced priorities. Instead of proposing policies that will reduce our deficit, they continue to push for massive tax cuts for the very wealthy while paying for Hurricane Katrina by cutting spending on vital programs, such as Medicaid and food stamps, which serve our most vulnerable citizens.
I believe in shared sacrifice. To pay for Hurricane Katrina in a responsible way and get our fiscal house in order, Congress must simultaneously target federal expenditures and recognize that continued tax cuts for the rich despite record deficits is simply not sustainable.
Again, thank you for letting me know your views. Please feel free to visit my website at www.house.gov/degette for further information. There you can sign up for my e-newsletter to stay up-to-date on current events in Congress. I look forward to our continued communication.
Ho hum, another rant against "tax cuts for the rich." Another bogus claim that this administration is "cutting spending on vital programs." Jeez, I wish I could think of even one program on which they’ve cut spending.
DeGette is utterly without redeeming qualities. Her predecessor, Pat Schroeder, was just as far left, but she was at least reasonably bright and a much more interesting person. DeGette is merely tendentious and tedious. But she’s accomplished the difficult task of making me look back fondly at Pat Schroeder’s time in office.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! (And thanks, Glenn, for catching up on your PorkBusters updates!) While you’re here, please take a look around. If none of the post titles listed on the left pique your interest, you can browse by month using the calendar above them. Click the month name to see a list, with brief intros, of that month’s posts. Or just go to my main page, which includes about the last two weeks’ posts.
Oh, and please consider donating to Project Valour-IT. The competition is over (and it looks like the Navy team may have edged out Army, dammit), but the cause is still just as good.
in_the_middle said
i guess i shouldn’t be offended then after not receiving ANY response from salazar or allard after the burton issue passed in congress. i did, however, receive a smile when i asked my congressman, mark udall, what they were doing to reduce spending when he appeared here in summit county recently. he glibly responded to me: get the gop out of power.
sheesh, i wish it were that easy.