Yesterday, after President Bush used his sixth-ever veto to squash “a measure to fund education, job training and health programs,” he criticized the fiscal responsibility and spending priorities of “the majority” in Congress:

The majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it’s acting like a teenager with a new credit card.

White House press secretary Dana Perino added that it was “not only the extra spending” that raised White House objections, but “also 2,000 earmarks that the president would like to see stripped out.”

While Bush is trying to cast the majority in Congress as “acting like drunken sailors with federal tax dollars” because of earmarks, he should take notice of who placed the largest earmarks in the bill he just vetoed: Republicans.

According to the November 6 edition of CQ Today, the two largest individual earmarks in the bill were placed by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY):

However, much of the “pork” Boehner complained about was requested by Republicans. Aside from the “National Programs and Activities,” the single biggest earmark in the Labor-HHS-Education section of the bill belongs to Sen. Richard C. Shelby, R-Ala., who won $9.3 million for the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The second-largest was requested by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. — $8.4 million for the University of Louisville Research Foundation.

If Bush were serious about spending, he’d take on McConnell and Shelby, but he hasn’t. Instead, he’s playing “pure politics” in an effort to obscure his long record of fiscal irresponsibility.

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Last night, CBS News reported that their five-month investigation of veterans’ deaths revealed data that shows a startling rate of suicide. Chief Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reported that veterans were more than twice as likely to commit suicide in 2005 than non-vets. Veterans committed suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000, compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of 8.9 per 100,000. Watch it:

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) will offer an amendment in the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow to “strike retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies alleged to have assisted with the President’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program.” From his statement:

Granting retroactive immunity for companies that allegedly went along with this illegal program is unjustified and undermines the rule of law. Not only would retroactive immunity set the terrible precedent that breaking the law is permissible and companies need not worry about the privacy of their customers, but it would likely prevent courts from ruling on the President’s illegal warrantless wiretapping program. This program was one of the worst abuses of executive power in our history, and the courts should be able to rule on it once and for all.

Read his recent letter to the editor responding to John Ashcroft on the issue in The New York Times HERE.

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Near the end of today’s contentious hearing with the State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) sought to reward the embattled IG by offering him a ticket to an upcoming White House Christmas party. Issa told Krongard:

Thank you for your service. And I’ll end by saying that the first week of December the president’s having a Christmas party. I have an extra guest ticket. After today, I know that you’ve earned it. I would be happy to have you use my guest ticket and then you’ll get your picture with the president and you’ll get to meet him as well you should.

Watch it:

Earlier in the hearing, Krongard said he had never met the President.

Our guest blogger is Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org and veteran of the Iraq war.

Every day, I keep a number of blogs open on my browser that I constantly refresh. I don’t want to cast too much praise on one blog over the other (they’re all good and all important), but ThinkProgress is one of the blogs I check the most.

For me, ThinkProgress truly has been my go-to for almost instantaneous news updates and thoughtful analysis, especially on Iraq, military and veterans’ issues. Additionally, besides some pesky trolls, the comment threads are essential in letting me know what issues are well understood by the majority of people, and which could use some additional explanation, from groups like the one I represent, VoteVets.org.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think so fondly of ThinkProgress because it’s one of the few blogs that consistently gives the veterans of VoteVets.org a place to air out their views. It’s not just that posts like that help out VoteVets.org as a group, but it allows the voice of America’s veterans to be heard and amplified. That is crucial when we’re talking about a time when less than a percent of the total population knows what it’s like to fight in the current wars.

It’s to all of our benefit that ThinkProgress stick around for a long, long, long time. For its on-the-ball news coverage and analysis, its ability to stoke discussion and debate, and its willingness to promote many diverse voices, ThinkProgress has truly become one of the premiere, must-read blogs around.

I hope you’ll join me in donating here to help keep ThinkProgress strong, for years to come.

– Jon Soltz

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Last year, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) worked to ensure that “budget justifications” for appropriations bills are made “available to the public at the same time they were made available to appropriators.” But in the just released House and Senate Conference report for the Transportation-HUD spending bill, a provision has been slipped in that “would ban the public from having timely access to budget information for the Transportation Department.” The secrecy language “was not included in either the House or Senate versions of the bill.”

During today’s House Oversight Committee hearing on the performance of State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) revealed that Krongard’s brother — former CIA Executive Director A.B. “Buzzy” Krongard — sits on Blackwater USA’s board. Krongard vehemently denied the allegation, calling it an “ugly rumor”:

KRONGARD: I can tell you very frankly, I am not aware of any financial interest or position he has with respect to Blackwater. It couldn’t possibly have affected anything I’ve done, because I don’t believe it. And when these ugly rumors started recently, I specifically asked him. I do not believe it is true that he is a member of the advisory board, as you stated, and that is something I think I need to say.

During a break in today’s hearing, Krongard called his brother and confirmed that the “ugly rumor” was in fact true, and promised to recuse himself from any Blackwater investigations:

KRONGARD: This is in response to something I think you found important. During the break I did contact my brother. I reached him at home — he is not at the hotel. But I learned that he had been at the advisory board meeting yesterday. I had not been aware of that, and I want to state on the record right now that I hereby recuse myself from any matters having to do with Blackwater.

WAXMAN: I see. You indicated you had called your brother to ask him earlier whether he was on the board. He told you he wasn’t.

KRONGARD: Well that was about six weeks ago, and I was not aware — and this board meeting happened yesterday, and I found out just during the break that he had in fact attended yesterday.

Watch it:

One of the charges against Krongard is that he blocked a House investigation into whether weapons illegally smuggled into Iraq by Blackwater employees were then “sold on the black market and ended up in the hands of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.” In a Sept. 18 letter, Waxman revealed that Krongard had ordered his investigators to “IMMEDIATELY” stop cooperating with federal investigators.

Blackwater is a State Department contractor and has received hundreds of millions of dollars of work from the government. The Bush administration has repeatedly rushed to the defense of Blackwater after the deadly September shootout that killed 17 Iraqi civilians, even promising legal immunity to the company’s guards. It also awarded a new $92 million contract to Blackwater just weeks after the shooting.

UPDATE: Spencer Ackerman spoke with Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell, who said that she didn’t know the exact date of when Buzzy joined the Blackwater board, but said “it would be accurate to say that he was invited in late July and accepted soon after.”

Transcript: Read more

During today’s House oversight committee hearing on State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard, “Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) dropped a bombshell: Krongard’s brother, former CIA Executive Director A.B. ‘Buzzy’ Krongard, sits on Blackwater’s board. Blackwater, of course, is a State Department contractor.” Under questioning by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Krongard denied that his brother worked for Blackwater and said he would recuse himself from Blackwater investigations if it’s true:

Cummings: “According to this email, Mr. Prince invited your brother to be at a board meeting to discuss strategic planning. And this meeting is taking place right now, in Williamsburg, Virginia, this week as we speak.Staff contacted the hotel to speak to your brother and the hotel confirmed that he was scheduled to be there. Did you know that?”

Krongard: “No sir, I did not.”

Cummings: “And so, if your brother is a board member, which you said he’s not, but if he is — since I know you’re sensitive to conflict — would you agree that you should recuse yourself of anything dealing with Blackwater investigations?”

Krongard: “Yes, sir. And that was why — first of all, by the nature of my brother’s work, you should understand that we have never discussed his work or my work, so I had no reason to even think that he had any involvement with Blackwater. But, when these things surfaced, I called him and I asked him directly, he has told me he does have any involvement, he does not have any financial interest. If you’re telling me he does absolutely I would recuse myself.”

Cummings: “You will recuse yourself?”

Krongard: “Absolutely.”

Rep. Cummings: “Immediately?”

Krongard: “Absolutely.”