In Bipartisan panel is best bet yet to end wasteful spending, the Tennessean 's editorial board argues in favor of legislation Congressman Walz is co-sponsoring:
. . .[E]arlier this month, [Jim] Cooper joined fellow Reps. Ron Kind, D-Wis., Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md., Melissa Bean, D-Ill., Mark Udall, D-Colo., and Timothy Walz, D-Minn., to sponsor legislation calling for an independent commission to recommend changes to the process.
If approved, the Bipartisan Earmark Reform Commission Act of 2008 would create a 12-member panel appointed by majority and minority leaders in Congress. The members would include lawmakers and other individuals, and consist of Democrats and Republicans.
The panel would study and hold hearings on what constitutes pork spending, who benefits and the impact on the federal budget. At the end of six months, the panel would make recommendations to the president and Congress. And Congress would have 60 days to act on those recommendations.
While such panels don't always achieve what they set out to do, this holds hope for the best attempt yet to deal with unaccountable waste at the federal level. Not only would this panel have bipartisan makeup, seven of the 12 would not be lawmakers themselves. . . .
The Tennessean is Nashville's daily newspaper, a part of the Gannett chain.
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