For those of you who are following this thread — who include appropriators and porkbuster types, last night a leadership source responded to an e-mail I posted about a supposedly “secret” appropropriators meeting re: earmark reform on the Hill yesterday. The original Senate staffer e-mailer responds to him now:
I like your leadership staffer’s retort to my earlier e-mail. Did you notice how he/she didn’t contradict a single thing that I said about that meeting? And I’d like to remind that leadership staffer that exactly half of the top Senate GOP leadership is currently represented by an appropriations cardinal (McConnell).
Anyhoo, it must be obvious to everyone on the Hill except leadership staff that appropriations chairmen are the tail that wags the leadership dog, which is exactly why GOP leadership is so desperate to quickly pass the remaining earmark-laden appropriations bills. It’s almost as if last week’s election never happened.