Bond's Awesome Month of Hypocrisy Continues
Kit Bond wants credit for the $750,000 in the FY2010 spending bill designated for Mizzou's Thompson Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders. However, he didn't actually vote to appropriate the money, doesn't remember that he didn't vote to appropriate the money, and Republicans opposed the bill because it included....money for projects like this one.
Bond said he helped secure $750,000 in the 2010 fiscal year omnibus spending bill that could help build a new facility for the Thompson Center in Columbia and upgrade equipment used by staff. He toured the center yesterday during an event to thank him for his support.
In the end, Bond did not vote for the bill, which Republicans criticized as laden with special projects for legislators’ districts.
He and seven other senators abstained from voting on the bill that passed 57-35, with support from 52 Democrats, three Republicans and two independents, Senate voting records show. The nonpartisan group Taxpayers for Common Sense said the $447 billion spending bill had 5,244 earmarks, or a little under $4 billion worth.
At the Thompson Center yesterday, after a reporter questioned him on his abstention, Bond said he had voted for the bill. “I voted for the omnibus appropriations bill; I voted against the stimulus bill,” Bond said.
A Bond staff member interjected, saying Bond had voted for cloture on the spending bill, a motion to quickly end debate, but not on the final bill. But voting records show Bond abstained from the cloture vote as well, which passed in the Senate, 60-34.
Bond did not vote on the motions to invoke cloture (Vote 373) or pass the conference report (Vote 374) for HR3288 on December 13.
Tip of the cap to readers TD and GW on this story.
Image credit: Mexico Ledger
