DeLay Still Up To Dirty Tricks
Tom DeLay thinks the federal treasury is his personal piggy bank. DeLay slipped “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas” into the energy bill.
But this isn’t a normal case of government pork. DeLay has completely dispensed with the democratic process. From a letter Rep. Henry Waxman just sent Speaker Dennis Hastert:
The provision was inserted into the energy legislation after the conference was closed, so members of the conference committee had no opportunity to consider or reject this measure.
The $1.5 billion won’t be administered by the government by a private consortium in DeLay’s district:
The subtitle appears to steer the administration of 75% of the $1.5 billion fund to a private consortium located in the district of Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Ordinarily, a large fund like this would be administered directly by the government.
Hastert and DeLay need to explain themselves immediately. No member of Congress who takes taxpayer dollars seriously should vote for the energy bill until this matter is resolved.
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[…] Oh, and he added it to the bill after the conference committee meeting was over. That means no vote on it, he just inserted it himself. Think Progress documents the atrocities. […]
July 27th, 2005 at 6:02 pmthugs, punks, thieves, bullies, pimps, hitmen, gunsels, cheap crooks run rampant: i thought that’d been pretty well known since, arrrr, about 1972, at least…
July 27th, 2005 at 6:03 pmJust when you think they can’t get any more hypocritical, they out do themselves once again. So much for smaller government, less spending, etc. It is all provable BS.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:03 pmI get so sick of all of the giveaways to Big Oil, when in fact it just makes us more dependent on the least stable parts of the world. It’s irresponsible and frankly it’s as much or more of a threat to national security than AlQueda or Iraq every was!
The 1.5 billion dollars should have gone into solar - that alone would have been enough money to tip the balance on solar prices. Solar works on economies of scale just like any other consumer products. Just like a $500 mac mini is more of a computer than any 10000 desktop 5 years ago was, the same is true for solar. The panels get increasingly cheaper and more efficient, and the more that people purchase them - the cheaper they get.
Eventually solar will on its own reach a pivot point that won’t need any subsidies - but the fact that our government won’t expedite this timeframe shows their shameless irresponsibility to this country! Shame Shame to congress! These selfish, stupid old men and women continue to betray the trust of the american voter. Congress - you are there for US, not for Exxon!
July 27th, 2005 at 6:04 pmHow much more funding does the VA need to balance it’s books? A billion and a half would go a long way helping veterans.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:18 pmI get so sick of just reading this shit. Really, do the American people matter at all anymore??? Isn’t it all about money and the a__holes in the republican party who are ruining this country and any chance that our young people will ever be able to pay of this mountain of debt? I’m depressed after reading this, truly.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:19 pmWhile this is disgusting, expect the National Review, the Weekly Standard, and Fox News to find an excuse for this giveaway. After that - they’ll blame it all on Joe Wilson and the CIA.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:24 pmPlease get it to the MSM–maybe for once, they’ll see this for what it is-a ripoff for personal gain!!
July 27th, 2005 at 6:27 pmWhoever caught this should get a .01% finder’s fee ($150,000) - assuming it gets stopped - thus saving Uncle Sam 1.5 Billion. We’d have every intern in DC raking bills late at night looking for this kind of pork.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:31 pmBig deal. That type of thing happens all the time in my country.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:32 pmHey Tom, Pull your head out of your ass & get your hands off my wallet…
I shouldn’t have to tell you this…Damn!!!
July 27th, 2005 at 6:33 pmDisgusting. Everyone in Congress should vote against this pork barrel bill and be done with it. This is yet another reason to vote against it, and more proof of what a crook Tom Delay is. Hope whoever runs against him uses this in an ad to show what a crook he is.
But even if this is removed, the bill is still garbage. Congress should be putting billions towards solar and wind power, not corporate welfare for rich energy companies.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:35 pmHey, where’s NED taunting: “We won you lost, you’ll have to live with this kind of thing because we’re in charge Nyah nyah nyah!”
Looking forward to his input.
July 27th, 2005 at 6:50 pmLizard DeLay knows the media is focused on the John Roberts nomination and the Karl Rove leak scandal — no one’s watching the store!
That’s how these radical, rightwingers operate.
How much more does Cheney’s Halliburton need in the form of Federal handouts?
When Cheney exercizes his 435,000 shares of Halliburton he’s going to be as rich as a Getty.
. . .
July 27th, 2005 at 6:52 pmI can’t wait to see the “right spin” on this one
July 27th, 2005 at 6:55 pmYeah, I guess even ol’ Neddie can’t yet muster a jingoist defense for Delay’s underhanded thievery of taxpayer funds. The cat’s got Neddie’s tongue but sadly, Delay and his crooked cronies got our money. If the Democratic leadership doesn’t hammer blow Delay for this then we have to give them hell.
July 27th, 2005 at 7:05 pmHastert and DeLay have all the cards, why fight it?
July 27th, 2005 at 7:08 pmSugar “Daddy” Land
July 27th, 2005 at 7:24 pmThis abuse is only part of the Energy Bill fiasco.
Why fight it?
Congress is not representing my interests nor those of the American people. That’s why I’m fighting it.
If you want to bow down to and worship whoever is in power, move to Saudi Arabia.
But don’t dare call yourself an American. Enough said?
Don’t have the words for how disgusted I am. You may have been conquered, defeated or surrendered– like George W. Bush –on 9-11.
But the rest of us have not abandoned our nation, our Constitutional system of checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights.
So to ask politely for now: would all the chickenhawk fascists please leave and start their own “Theocratic Republic of Exxon-Halliburton” somewhere?
Thank you.
July 27th, 2005 at 7:42 pm“Bush Admits to Role of Humans in Global Warming”
http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/070705EB.shtml
You’d think that would be enough to get these jerks on the right to realize that fossil fuels are strangling democracy one barrel at a time - but NOOOO, instead they play pork barrel politics with america’s future. God they’re idiots!
July 27th, 2005 at 7:46 pmThanks, Tom DeLay
Your insistence on shielding MTBE producers from liability scuttled the energy bill the last time it came up. However, with that provision and ANWR drilling out of the bill, it really looked like the egregious legislation, stuffed with giveaways to the big energy companies, was going to pass. But you through, adding a provision (probably illegally — but who cares) to sweeten the deal for your Sugarland cronies that should scuttle the bill yet again.
A grateful nation thanks you, Tom DeLay. You’ve saved an incompetaet Congress from itself, and you’ve saved the U.S. from the greed of Big Energy.
July 27th, 2005 at 7:52 pmI have not read all the posts tonight, yet. But do we smell more ethics shit from DeLay?
Maybe the FBI should be looking into bribies and other corruption coming out DeLay’s piggy bank, our wise known as U.S. Treasury?
July 27th, 2005 at 7:54 pm[…] DeLay attempts to give his cronies $1.5B, and in such a way that it was never considered by the committee upon whose bill the funds reside. […]
July 27th, 2005 at 8:09 pm[…] (We’re also interested in and just a little unhappy about Tom DeLay’s last minute looting of the taxpayer treasury for a private consortium that just happens to be located in his district). […]
July 27th, 2005 at 8:10 pmIn the good old days, public officials who proved themselves corrupt were likely to be tarred and feathered, then run out of town. I think it’s high time we brought that pointed symbol of public disapproval back, starting with DeLay.
July 27th, 2005 at 8:20 pmDoes anyone know if the move by Delay was illegal???
It would seem like it would have to be because you have the two houses of congress forming a committe to iron out the differences between their bills. I would think that MOAs or MOUs or some form of formal agreement would have to be signed and agreed upon.
If Delay or anyone else can do this, thereby bypassing the process, then what is the point of government? You might as well just call it a dictatorship by the house majority leader.
Can someone answer my main question about legality?
July 27th, 2005 at 8:33 pmHey! Freedom is on the march! Delay has the Freedom to do this! Is THIS what FREEDOM means? What these futher muckers!
July 27th, 2005 at 8:44 pmDeLay should be tried and convicted as a traitor. Traitors should be shot.
July 27th, 2005 at 8:53 pmThe Congress as a whole still has to vote on this bill. The rules probably prohibit them introducing any amendments - just an up or down vote. So, our recourse is to get all of our Congresspeople to vote against this pork barrel bill posing as an energy policy bill. Of course it will pass anyway, but consider it a free campaign issue for the 06 election. We authorized this criminality by our votes in 04.
July 27th, 2005 at 8:54 pmUnder DeLay rules this is now how the Senate-House conference committees operate. What comes out for a straight up-or-down vote does not have to be in either House’s bill and is purely what the GOP leadership wants. What they want is to reward their supporters.
July 27th, 2005 at 8:58 pmI know this is off-topic, but am I the only one who looks at Tom DeLay and sees a human/reptile hybrid?
The guys has the classic “dead eyes” you see in the reptile kingdom.
He’s like something from an episode of X-Files.
. . .
July 27th, 2005 at 9:09 pmWhile we we bitch about Plamegate, Delay pulls another dirty trick. Isn’t that exactly what we expect from the criminals in charge?
votetoimpeach.org
July 27th, 2005 at 9:16 pmI watched most of the energy conference committee and have no idea why he attempted to sneak this in as the whole bill is pretty much one big giveaway to energy big-biddness.
The most disgusting thing was (at about 3:00 am) was when they gave themselves a pat on the back for a job well done.
July 27th, 2005 at 9:24 pmWhen asked how long the vote would be held open to gather votes to pass this, Delay said, “As long as it takes”.
Maybe he’s going to take this money and split for South America. This is his retirement fund.
What an asshole.
July 27th, 2005 at 9:29 pmTypical. Wonder if this project could fund further exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, now that Florida iss’t as important.
July 27th, 2005 at 9:30 pmThis is awesome. They’re so consistently evil. But where does all this money come from?
Where do they get it? They’ve given away or lost or squandered almost $8 BILLION dollars.
And they still have constituents!
This is proof that the Republicans we know are idiots.
July 27th, 2005 at 10:00 pmDelay is just another failed business man who finds it easy to spend other people’s money.
July 27th, 2005 at 10:06 pmWho, on God’s green earth, actually tries to run a bug killin’ operation?
He’s a souless schemer.
[…] From Think Progress, DeLay apparently slipped an extra 1.5 billion into the energy bill for “ultra-deepwater drilling” — the money is to be administered by a private consortium of oil and gas companies (including Halliburton), mostly located in DeLay’s home district, and appears to be available for a wide array of spending at the discretion of these companies. Henry Waxman writes a letter [PDF here], compaining that the subtitle was added to the bill after the legislation was closed to further amendment. […]
July 27th, 2005 at 10:12 pmTom Delay has just wrote himself a multi-million dollar check with our money and his republican cronies are sure to approve it. Damn republicans are the scum of the earth.
July 27th, 2005 at 10:46 pmHis website is sickening .He actually writes about cutting waste and abuse. The GD Vikings would be in awe of his pillaging ability.
July 27th, 2005 at 10:57 pmA few mill ought to keep him supplied with Grecian Formula, hair weaves or whatever the hell is going on on top of that block head.
July 27th, 2005 at 11:05 pmSo to ask politely for now: would all the chickenhawk fascists please leave and start their own “Theocratic Republic of Exxon-Halliburton� somewhere?
Thank you.
Comment by Thom  July 27, 2005 @ 7:42 pm
They are trying, Thom.
http://christianexodus.org/
Google secession:
http://www.google.com/ search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2005-02,GGLD:en&q=secession
You will see that quite a few people would like that. That’s what started the last civil war here.
July 27th, 2005 at 11:38 pmhttp://www.secessionist.us/
July 27th, 2005 at 11:41 pmFBI, CIA, and IRS where are you on DeLay? When will you save your nation from this criminal and his fellow criminals?
July 28th, 2005 at 12:32 amThe Scorched Earth Republicans have added $2 trillion to the national debt since Bush took office. In 2004, 60 million Americans voted for him. That comes out to $33,000 each plus interest. They wanted it, they should pay for it.
July 28th, 2005 at 1:18 amThey call him DeLay for a reason
Tom DeLay couldn’t keep his meaty exterminator hands off that energy bill, allegedly “delaying” the addition of a $1.5 billion perk to the oil industry until after the conference committee was closed, apparently so no one could question it and those…
July 28th, 2005 at 8:24 amI tell ya, these greedy effing pigs have no shame.
Day of Judgement, God is calling,
July 28th, 2005 at 9:08 amOn their knees, the War Pigs crawling,
Begging mercies for their sins,
Satan laughing, spreads his wings
Has this been taken out yet? Has Delay even acknowledged his un-American actions?
July 28th, 2005 at 9:38 amAcknowledge wrong doing? Surely you jest.
July 28th, 2005 at 9:56 amNo, it has not been removed. It seems set to pass.
This from Reuters:
“A spokesman for DeLay defended the fund, saying it was in the energy bill approved by the House in April.”
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072800307.html)
No mention in the article of this being put in the bill after the committee had its final vote.
I sure hope my Senators are set to filibuster and publicize this back door partisan pork.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:09 amHe is one of the greediest scumbags. Not even worthy of the roaches he used to kill. I’m so angry I could spit nails. PORK PORK PORK Suuuuuuueeeeeeeeeee. I keep repeating to myself 06 06 06. I actually moved from NYC to TN for the purpose of making a difference and so that my vote would have the most impact.
It’s hard to see so many of the working poor actually voting for repubs down here because of ignorance. I speak often of education and I’m doing my best down here, gang!! EDUCATION is key. I show people issues like this all the time and they seem astonished. I asked a republican coworker about what she thought of Rove/Traitorgate and she actually said, “who’s Rove?” Again, I chant education. Good grief.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:12 amOur present politicians are serving for the money $$$$$. We need to oust the majority of them and start a Reform Party. The platform is as follows: 1) term limits 2) flat tax 3) balanced budget 4) no admendments to a proposed bill 5) no off shore corporations 6) no presidential pardons 7) stop corporate executive fraud and robbery-protect pensions 8) max of $100 campaign contributions 9) let’s enhance social security 10) unlawfull for lobbyist to hire or give money to family and friends of legislators
July 28th, 2005 at 10:12 amPresently 5% of the wealthy rob from the 95% of law abiding and tax paying Americans. Let’s reform American democracy so that it would worthy of export to other country’s.
Of course I understand that this would seem like a radical approach to the elite.
Why I would like the MSM to pick-up this story and run with it, I think its time for some of those 22nd district liberal texans I heard about this week in another blog to step to the plate. This is your boy even if you didn’t vote for him. Bring his ethics and integrity faults to his attention and let him know that this behavior won’t be tolerated any longer. This man is a pox on your entire state.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:12 amMaybe this is a good time to try out that new filibuster agreement…Hello, Senator Reid…Are you listening.
& oh yea, Hey Diane F… I voted for you as a Democrat. Why don’t you start acting like one or join the other party.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:17 am1.5 billion dollars? There may not be any chance of DeLay losing in his district next year anyway, but if this goes through landslide will be an understatement. This must be stopped.
July 28th, 2005 at 10:25 amHmm, $1,500,000,000 = 1,500,000 Apple iBooks for the public education system.
No child left behind. Ha.
July 28th, 2005 at 11:12 amLet’s see, Google tells me Texas representative districts should have an ideal population of 651,619 people. If we take $1,500,000,000 and divide it by those 651,619 ideal citizens, each of them would get $2,301.95 dollars.
Now this IS Tom DeLay we are talking about so it is more likely that his supporters get $20,000 each and the democrats get squat. Yea, that sounds about right.
July 28th, 2005 at 11:24 am[…] Continuing coverage about “EnergyGate” is seen here at ThinkProgress. […]
July 28th, 2005 at 11:39 amI just wrote my Repub rep and asked if he was going to support the Texas despot, and his corrupt Texan cabal or whether he was going to support the taxpayers of his state which elected him. I sent a copy to the local newspaper as part of a letter to the editor. Everyone should do the same. The only way this corruption will be exposed is by grass roots action because the media will not report it. Even Repubs in a red state such as mine can understand “welfare” for Corporations. Unvoted upon welfare is nothing but graft by tyrants. All these Reps will face election next year. It’s time to beat each and every one of them over the head with, “Who do you represent, the corrupt Tom Delay, or us?”
July 28th, 2005 at 12:16 pmSome days I get so tired of the whole thing.
Then I think of Rep. Henry Waxman and his staff!
Bravo you guys, I don’t know how you do it!
Keep taking your vitamins and stay healthy!
But I’m getting confused. Who has to vote on the bill now? House? Senate? Committees?
I don’t have much time to yell and I want to make sure I’m hollering in the right direction.
God Bless Henry Waxman and God Help America!
July 28th, 2005 at 1:36 pmToo late in the House. Contact your Senators, they are scheduled to vote tomorrow.
“U.S. House approves $14.5 bln energy bill”
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/28/AR2005072800984.html)
July 28th, 2005 at 1:44 pmI had expected ths to snowball but it looks like it fell through the cracks. That surprises me.
July 28th, 2005 at 4:13 pm[…] Yesterday on ThinkProgress, we wrote that, after the conference for the energy bill closed, Tom DeLay slipped in “a $1.5 billion giveaway to the oil industry, Halliburton, and Sugar Land, Texas.â€? Specially, the provision was written to benefit an consortium located in DeLay’s home district. […]
July 28th, 2005 at 5:00 pmI asked a woman…..here in Tennessee what was the diameter of a nine inch cake. The response…I don’t know……it has been so long since I made one…I forgot.
Stupidity is rampant.
Stanley Domanski
July 28th, 2005 at 10:33 pmSo what did Delays spokes person have to say about Waxman? He don’t know Texas etc etc…the point is, they put him down as nothing other than a small musketeer without his ears. So much for the Delay crowd.
July 28th, 2005 at 11:02 pmQuand je lis vos commentaires, je suis moins pessimiste sur l’état actuel de l’Amérique. Continuez àêtre vigilants!
July 29th, 2005 at 5:51 amSee my comment on the follow-on http://thinkprogress.org/ 2005/ 07/ 28/ sugar-land-celebrates/
July 29th, 2005 at 12:51 pm[…] (via ThinkProgress.org) […]
July 29th, 2005 at 3:49 pmThrough reading all of the above comments,anyone might think you are talking about a back yard, usefull, pet dictator proped-up by the USA, and that no one has ever voted for.
July 30th, 2005 at 3:16 pmSo, just for a minute you might as well think how the rest of the world feels about this one, and the whole bunch of them when we didn´t even vote them but have to suffer them
We Republicans has politicl capital to spend and we’are going to used it. You Dumbocrats need to buy yourselfs some hankies, we aren’t listening to your crying no more. Youse guys stoll every thing you could from the taxpayers while Clinton was having his filthy prick sucked in the White House.
July 31st, 2005 at 10:07 amYou will be needing the hankies when we get you right wing republican out of office in 2006 and when we get rit of bushies and his cronies in 2008. The oil companies do not need anymore corporate welfare. I hope that the people from Texas will be out raged by what Delay did. You Right Wing Republican are only for the rich, rich, rich not for the backbone working people that make up a good percentage of america.
August 3rd, 2005 at 10:44 am[…] So, to, would be ending our taxpayer subsidies to the fossil fuel interests–even if this interfers with a taxpayer funded 1.5 billion dollar pet project in Tom DeLay’s district. […]
September 8th, 2005 at 7:10 pmDeLay: Where’s the Pork?
In the right-wing Washington Times, the corrupt majority leader Tom DeLay claims that Republicans have done a great job in cutting spending, adding that there is no fat left to cut in the federal budget. Apparently, he said this with a completely str…
September 15th, 2005 at 12:03 am[…] […]
March 10th, 2006 at 1:57 am[…] […]
March 11th, 2006 at 7:25 am