Congressman John Campbell (CA-48) led a bloggers briefing at the
Heritage Foundation today. Campbell is the major House force behind
the "Semper Fi Act", which
would remove $2 million of earmarks from the city of Berkeley,
California and give them to the Marines.
The Berkeley City Council, in late January,
passed
a resolution calling the U.S. Marines "unwanted and unwelcome
intruders" in the college town, and "encourage[d] all people to
avoid cooperation with the Marine Corps recruiting station, and
applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink, that may
volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent
means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the
City of Berkeley."
And what would Berkeley have used the $2 million for? Well,
$243,000 of it is specifically earmarked to pay one local
restaurant to provide "organic" lunches for Berkeley Public
Schools.
And apparently Berkeley's attachment to gourmet-quality organic
fare is more powerful than its distaste for the Marine presence.
Tonight the Berkeley City Council is convening, once again, to
"reconsider"
the resolution. When asked by AmSpec Managing Editor J.P.
Freire when we can expect to see similar bills stripping earmarks
from San Francisco, or Madison, Wisconsin, or any number of other
cities nationwide, Campbell allowed that Berkeley was an extreme
case that can be used to shine the light on the problem of earmarks
in general.
Plus, they attacked the Marines.
But what of the idea that earmarks are "just" 1% of the
budget?
"Only in Washington," said Campbell, "is $30 billion dollars
considered no big deal."
topics:
Earmarks, Military
