John McCain hates earmarks. If you don’t know that, you must have spent 2008 in a cave. I’ll admit that the procedure of giving out federal monies as prizes to congress members is a bit unseemly and has traditionally lacked transparency. It gives a ton of power to the cardinals of the Appropriations committees, and it creates a good deal of waste. But there are a lot of deserving projects that get funded this way. For example, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) has been asking House Appropriations chairman David Obey (D-WI) for an earmark for the the Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center. So far, Obey has refused on the grounds that the earmark would violate a policy against so-called “monuments to me.”
Waters spokesman Michael Levin called to say that the center — which provides a wide array of health care, automotive, GED and job preparedness training programs — was named after Waters before she entered the House by LA school officials…
…The program Levin said, serves hundreds of low-income people a year and is located near four housing projects with sky-high unemployment rates. Waters’ funding request is needed to keep the center going, he added, because many of the centers’ state grants are on the chopping block, a result of the California’s staggering deficit.
Waters is making the case that the job training center was named for her years ago when she was a state representative, and so it really shouldn’t violate the policy. It might be a fine distinction, but she at least has an argument. She attempted to meet Obey halfway.
Waters revised her request to go to the school district’s whole adult employment training program, so the district could decide whether the money would go to the school named after Waters.
Thursday was the committee markup of the spending bill that would include the earmark, and Obey let it be known that the earmark would be denied. She approached him and complained.
That’s when things got ugly.
Two Democrats got into a verbal altercation — and according to one a physical one — on the floor of the House on Thursday night over an appropriations earmark one was seeking.
After the House floor had largely cleared following a series of votes, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) split apart from a heated conversation and began yelling at one another.
“You’re out of line,” Waters shot while walking down toward the well.
“You’re out of line,” Obey shot back before turning and walking away.
But then Obey stopped, turned back toward Waters, and shouted: “I’m not going to approve that earmark!”
Obey turned away, but Waters went to go huddle with members of the Congressional Black Caucus. She could be over heard telling them: “He touched me first.”
Waters was escorted by her colleagues into the cloakroom.
Obey then conversed for a few minutes with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). Hoyer’s office said the two did not discuss the incident but instead talked only about the appropriations process. Obey had been speaking with Hoyer and leadership staff for most of the vote series prior to his encounter with Waters.
Obey then exited the chamber.
But Waters soon returned briefly, again telling her colleagues: “He touched me.”
Who knows where this goes from here, but it is already pretty ugly. The Politico’s coverage makes it sound like Waters just got frustrated and shoved Obey. These are two very strong-willed Democrats with a lot of seniority. Waters is the third-most senior member of the Financial Services Committee and she chairs the subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity. Obey’s role as chair of the Appropriations Committee makes him arguably the third most powerful member of the House, after Pelosi and Hoyer. If there is a rift between Obey and the Congressional Black Caucus, things could get quite uncomfortable.
And, all over an earmark for adult job training in the projects of Los Angeles. I don’t know who started the shoving, but a little money for such a worthy cause could go a long way towards creating some peace.
