No, the Senators are debating what they are going to use against their opponents in their campaign commercials this fall. It seems like that is all they have been doing lately, thus, I have been ignoring them.
I did want to highlight one particular item from today though.
Earlier today, Republicans defeated a Democratic proposal for an investigation into waste and fraud in military contracts. The proposal, made by Senator Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota, called for a panel like the one led by Harry Truman when he was a Senator, which uncovered many abuses in military spending during World War II. It failed by a 52-to-44 vote.
Mr. Dorgan said that military spending is the worst it has ever been "right now - right now! I think the American taxpayers are being fleeced."
He offered several anecdotes, including one about 25 tons of nails that he said had been buried in the sand simply because "someone ordered the wrong-sized nails," adding, "It doesn't matter - the American taxpayer is going to pay the bill."
The senator focused on Halliburton, the huge company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney, which has become a favorite target of Democrats alleging favoritism and waste in the awarding of Pentagon contracts in Iraq. But Mr. Dorgan said there was plenty of blame on both sides of the aisle. Supervision of military spending, he said, is "the one area where all of us have failed."
The vote followed party lines almost exactly, with Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island the only Republican to vote yes. No Democrats voted against the Dorgan amendment.
Let the fleecing continue.
Glad to see the Dems stick together on this one.