Democrat Jack Murtha violated ethics rules on the floor of the House, right out in the open. This is what happened:
According to the draft resolution, Murtha shouted at Rogers on the House floor Thursday for offering a motion last week to expose $23 million Murtha requested in an intelligence bill.
Murtha had requested the money to prevent the administration from shuttering the National Drug Intelligence Center in Johnstown, Pa.. in Murtha’s district.
“I hope you don’t have any earmarks in the defense appropriations bills because they are gone, and you will not get any earmarks now and forever,” Murtha told Rogers on the House floor, according to the draft transcript given Politico.
“This is not the way we do things here — and is that supposed to make me afraid of you?” Rogers replied.
“That’s the way I do it,” Murtha said.
Members are not allowed to threaten earmarks or tax provisions.
Murtha threatened another Republican congressman just last week for voting for Rogers’ motion:
This shouting match follows a similar outburst Murtha directed at Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) last week.
Murtha yelled at Tiahrt on the House floor for voting in favor of Rogers’s motion last week, members and aides familiar with the incident said.
The controversy stems from a disagreement between Murtha and the administration about closing the National Drug Intelligence Center, an intelligence gathering facility supervised by the Drug Enforcement Agency.
President Bush’s budget slashed $23 million from the budget to force the agency to close the office, which has received repeated low marks from several federal review boards.
Is it a surprise that Congress’ approval rating is lower than Bush’s? Murtha seems to think that Democrats having control of Congress means he can break any ethics rule he wants to get what he wants.
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