Obama to Sign Earmark-Bloated Spending Bill

No, Obama.  You can’t blame Bush for this one.

President Barack Obama will break a campaign pledge and sign a budget bill laden with millions in lawmakers’ pet projects, administration officials said.

Administration budget chief Peter Orszag and White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel both downplayed the $410 billion spending bill and signaled Obama would hold his nose and sign it. Orszag said: “We want to just move on. Let’s get this bill done, get it into law and move forward.

Said Emanuel: “That’s last year’s business.”

The House last week passed the measure that would keep the government running through Sept. 30, when the federal budget year ends. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 specially sponsored projects totaling $7.7 billion; Democrats say the number is $3.8 billion.

Either way, it is far more than Obama promised as a candidate. He refused “earmarks” for the economic stimulus package he championed and a children’s health bill.

He similiarly [sic] pledged to reject tailored budget requests that let lawmakers send money to their home states. Orszag said Obama would move ahead and overlook the time-tested tradition that lets officials divert millions at a time to pet projects.

“We want to make sure that earmarks are reduced and they’re also transparent. We’re going to work with the Congress on a set of reforms to achieve those,” said Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget.

Obama’s top hands assigned responsibility to their predecessors and President George W. Bush.

It doesn’t matter what the previous administration did.  Obama had the full authority to veto this earmark-laden bill as he promised he would do when he was campaigning.  He could veto it and refuse to sign it until the earmarks are gone.  But he won’t.  This is 100% Obama’s responsibility no matter how much he tries to point the finger at Bush.  Obama is responsible for things to which he affixes his signature.