Veto bill with reams of earmarks

Here they go again.

Congress has loaded up yet another giant spending bill with thousands of pet projects:

• $500,000 for Mississippi River museum exhibits in Dubuque, Iowa.

• $400,000 for a botanical garden in Brooklyn.

• $200,000 for the Washington National Opera.

• $30,000 for a Woodstock youth film festival.

According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, the earmarks number more than 5,000 at a cost of $3.9 billion in the spending bill heading to President Barack Obama's desk.

The president should veto the $1.1 trillion omnibus bill that includes $447 billion for the operation of 10 Cabinet departments.

U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., distinguished himself as one of only three Senate Democrats to vote against the bill Sunday. The "massive" bill was unamendable and "chock-full of earmarks," Feingold complained.

"At a time of record budget deficits, we should be showing our constituents that we are serious about fiscal responsibility," Feingold said. "Instead of controlling spending, this bill represents business as usual in Congress."

When the lard-filled bill cleared the House, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind was the only Wisconsin Democrat to break party ranks. He joined GOP House members Paul Ryan, Tom Petri and Jim Sensenbrenner in voting "no."

U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has teamed with Feingold to expose and challenge wasteful earmarks that dodge the normal review process, blamed both major political party for years of wasteful pet projects.

"In the last campaign, the president of the United States campaigned for change - change you can believe in. There's no change here," McCain said.

He's right.

Obama's press secretary offered little hope for a veto Monday, suggesting 5,000-some earmarks in the spending bill represents progress.

Trying to stimulate the economy in crisis is one thing. But blatantly wasting money is quite another.

Obama should deliver taxpayers a Christmas miracle by nixing the bill.