It seems that certain Legislators added the pork anonymously, but some of their colleagues almost certainly know who did it. So maybe some Dopers know.
I put this in GQ (and not in GD) because there’s a factual answer to the question, but if the mods want to reassign it, fine.
I just heard on CNN that this stuff was in a previous bill that failed and was plugged into the bailout. Okay, so who sponsored that failed bill?
See discussion here:
A couple clarifying points: the rules in each House of Congress require disclosure of the sponsors of earmarks or limited tax benefits who requested them for that particular bill. The rules don’t require disclosure for items that were enacted due to a request for inclusion in a bill from several years ago, and simply continued NOT at the specific, new request of the sponsoring member. Since it appears that the tax benefits included in the bailout bill are simply straight-line continuations of benefits that have been in place for some time, there is no rule requiring disclosure of who benefits from those tax provisions, unless a member made a specific, new request to include those tax benefits in the new bill.
Oh, and I should have said that the benefits were first enacted in 2005, and expire at the end of this year.
Thank you - both of you - Genius and Ravenman.
I was listening to the radio just yesterday and one of our local Congressman was asked that exact question. His answer was short and simple: Harry Reid.
Of course, the LCM is a Republican, so you can take that blanket statement with a grain or two of salt.
Who was that man? I’d like to shake his hand.
Strange minds think alike…
Which Party (R, D, or I) slipped in the pork to the - now passed - Bailout?
However I suspect it was done with full consultation with and approval of the Republican leadership, as is appropriate in a bipartisan effort.
The fact that the Senate, with most of its members not facing reelection, could take the lead on this is another testament to the wisdom of the founding fathers. (Sorry, opinion, but I hope not too controversial.)
The congressman? John Shadegg*. Today he voted for the plan saying that he hadn’t changed his vote, they changed the plan into something he could support.
*My pre-caffeinated brain was drawing a blank this morning or I would have put his name in the first post.
So, they didn’t add any extra oversight, but they did add lots and lots of bizarre targeted tax breaks… and now it’s “something he can support”. Is his family in the wooden toy arrow business?
See, my mind works differently. I’m hearing the old kid’s song “Who Took The Cookies From The Cookie Jar?”
o/Who put the pork in the bailout bill? Shadegg put the pork in the bailout bill. o/
I, on the other hand, have “Who put the bomp in the Bomp-sha-bam?” going around in mine…
Do these count as part of the 18 billion dollars in earmarks quoted in the first presidential debate?
Now I wonder a) how will the pork in the bailout bill get my baby to fall in love me with me?
and
b) should I then make the effort to shake… Harry Reid’s hand was it?