Well now we know that there is at least one thing Republican crumb-bum C.W. “Bill” Young is good at: wasteful earmarking and spending.
Republican hypocrisy well at work.
From The Hill:
Senior Republican appropriators in the Senate have collected more money in earmarks than any other members of Congress, even though President Bush and GOP leaders have forcefully criticized “pork-barrel spending.”
Not only have these lawmakers defied their leaders, they have also taken a much greater share of the pot set aside for rank-and-file Republicans than have senior Democrats. As a result, some on the Hill are grumbling privately that GOP appropriators are “not only the kings of pork, they’re outright hogs,” in the words of one Senate Republican aide.
…
Rep. Bill Young (Fla.), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, is the second-biggest recipient of earmarked funds in the House, securing $161 million.
…
Young said that senior Defense Department officials come to him with requests for the military at large because he is the former chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and the panel’s current ranking member.
Wow, who knew it could be so fun to be a Congressman.
Oh yeah and this comes from the same Bill Young who was one of only twelve US House members to vote against compensation for family members who lost their loved ones in a US Embassy bombing. That's right, only twelve Congressional representatives voted against it and Bill Young was one of them. Mind you, this is a D+1 district.
Rep. Bill Young: Good at wasteful spending for defense lobbyists, bad for everyone else.
That was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Bill Young was already an established veteran member of Congress. He’s been there since 1970 setting a state record for longevity (the state has been represented since something like 1819 so that’s meaningful).
If Young retires, the seat should be ours. By now, with both neighboring seats changing hands last year, he looks even older than a year ago. This is a district notable for the rapid turnover in its population so Young’s contacts may mean a lot less than in the usual district. I wonder if a hard push (from either a “conservative” Republican or a Democrat) would make him retire?