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Obama signs big spending bill despite earmarks
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-12 09:48 WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed a US$410 billion bill to fund most government operations through September 30, but warned the US Congress must stop jamming spending bills with lawmakers' pet projects.
"I am signing an imperfect ... bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government, and we have a lot more work to do. We can't have Congress bogged down at this critical juncture in our economic recovery," he said. Obama outlined a plan that would enable lawmakers to continue to earmark spending with a "legitimate and worthy public purpose," but would make the process more transparent and offer opportunities for public feedback before approval.
"What he should have done was say he was going to veto this bill, that he wanted the US$8 billion in earmarks removed and then he would sign it," McCain said. Obama, who criticized earmarked spending during his presidential campaign, went behind closed doors to sign the US$410 billion spending bill, which was approved by the Democratic-controlled Congress following a contentious debate. The legislation, which will fund the departments of transportation, agriculture and others, was approved despite Republican objections to the price tag. "In just 50 days, Congress has voted to spend about US$1.2 trillion," said Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the US Senate. "To put that in perspective, that's about US$24 billion a day, or about US$1 billion an hour -- most of it borrowed." |
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