Though I was encouraged by the momentum given by Senator Coburn’s (R-OK) success last week in stripping the advertising aid for the seafood industry from the emergency spending bill, fiscal conservatives suffered another defeat today in their attempts to rid the emergency bill of extraneous pork projects. Sen. Coburn’s amendment, to remove the $500 million aid to Northrop Grumman, was defeated 47-52. Last time I checked Northrup Grumman was a private company. What a shame. As Bill Lauderback at the ACU noted the other day:
Northrop[’s stock] closed today at $67.24, up $0.34 on the day. Its capitalization is $23.84 billion. By contrast, at the time of Katrina, Northrop’s market capitalization was about $19.15 billion. Thus, since Katrina, Northrop’s market cap has exploded by $4.69 billion, or a whopping 24.5% in just seven months.
And this company needs a $500 million bailout?
As Andy Roth at the Club for Growth notes, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist voted “yea” for the amendment, which is significant since he voted against Coburn’s first amendment, to strip the infamous “Railroad to Nowhere” and save $700 million - which was lost by one vote. Thanks, Senator Frist, but your vote would’ve been really appreciated when it could have made a difference. This is the same Frist who signed the letter pledging to uphold a potential veto from Bush should the bill become overwrought with pork. This is also the same Frist who advocated the recent laughingstock of the blogosphere, the $100 “gas rebates.”
I used to have a favorable view of Sen. Frist - even though he wasn’t a movement conservative kind of guy, he talked a good talk and seemed like a genuine man who I could respect, though in disagreement with him. His flip-flopping actions in recent times, especially since he’s running for the 2008 nomination, are beyond asinine. Is he just trying to piss off the base? Seriously, does he not pay any attention to the major blogs out there (we’re not there yet..)? Dr. Frist, look at Powerline, look at CQ, look at RedState (well, sort of), the Club for Growth, RealClearPolitics, and on and on. You can’t clame ignorance; it’s been made pretty clear what the conservative base thinks of this wasteful porking (not to mention the polls mentioned by McCain on the Senate floor last week).
On a more personal, local note, unsurprisingly my two Senators (Chambliss and Isaakson) chose to go with the establishment DC boys on this one. Cowards. Way to stand up for Georgians’ tax dollars.
Maybe Frist got a clue and realized that his actions weren’t very encouraging to the base. Maybe he had a great awakening of sorts. Or maybe he just makes decisions by blindfolding his staffers and letting them throw darts at a board. Either way, though it is encouraging that he voted with fiscal conservatives on this one, I’m not a great fan of his.
Bill Frist, M.D. - Mainstream DC
Tom Coburn, M.D. - Medicine for the Deficit
