A February 21 article in the Journal-Advocate of Sterling uncritically repeated U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-Fort Morgan) contention that Democrats “pulled the plug” on “already ... earmarked” funding for the Eastern Colorado Plains Drug Task Force (ECPDTF) -- a multicounty law enforcement program created to combat methamphetamine problems in Musgrave's congressional district. The article failed to note, however, that federal funds never were “earmarked” for the ECPDTF in 2007, partly because the 2006 Republican-controlled Congress failed to pass a House spending bill that contained appropriations for the ECPDTF. Furthermore, the Journal-Advocate did not report that all earmarks were suspended under a Democratic resolution that received final passage on February 14, eliminating appropriations to specific projects, thereby keeping a campaign promise by congressional Democrats to eliminate special-interest appropriations to all congressional districts, regardless of party control.

According the Journal-Advocate article by staff writer John Mangalonzo, “The Democrats, the new majority on both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, have 'pulled the plug' on the much-needed funding supposedly secured for this year for the Eastern Colorado Plains Drug Task Force, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., said Tuesday. During a congressional hearing held in Loveland back in July, Musgrave announced that she had secured a direct appropriation funding of $250,000 for the ECPDTF.” The article further reported:

The funds, according to Musgrave, have already been earmarked to this purpose, but that the political atmosphere in Congress, with the majority shift, has caused the issue.

“Part of it is political. They (Democrats) don't want a Republican to get kudos for things they do for their district,” Musgrave said. “It's another thing that makes you shake your head and see the abuse of power.”

As the Journal-Advocate reported on September 6, 2006, Musgrave “back in July [of 2006] announced the direct appropriation funding -- possibly $250,000 [for ECPDTF].” However, at the time the article was published, no federal funding actually had been secured for the task force. That is because the full Congress never voted on an appropriations bill that included the ECPDTF earmark, one of more than 600 state and municipal projects to be funded by an appropriation from the federal Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant -- the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program. That appropriation, totaling more than $115 million, was designed to “help to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system with an emphasis on drugs, violent crime, and serious offenders.” While the appropriations measure passed the House of Representatives 393-23 on June 29, 2006, with 14 Republicans and nine Democrats voting against it, a corresponding version of the bill never came to a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

The Senate eventually did allocate $120 million from the Edward Byrne fund for identical purposes, but ECPDTF was not a named as a recipient in the spending plan. Like many other appropriations bills in the 109th Congress, the one containing the ECPDTF earmark died because of Republican inaction. As The Washington Post reported on January 29:

Last year, the Republican-controlled Congress failed to pass nine of the 11 annual appropriations bills that finance the federal government. Though the House did approve most of those bills, Senate leaders never scheduled votes on them. Congress ratified money for defense and homeland security but left the rest of the federal budget -- including Social Security, Medicare, veterans programs, education and transportation -- in limbo.

The Post further noted that “the Democrats [in the 110th Congress] are writing a resolution to fund the government -- without earmarks -- for the remainder of the [fiscal] year.” The same article reported, “In a recent private meeting with Republican members of his committee, [Rep. David R.] Obey [(D-Wis.)] spelled it out: no exceptions to the earmark moratorium.”

On February 8, the Post reported that on January 31, the House had approved HJ Res 20, which in addition to “fund[ing] nine appropriations bills that were left unfinished by the 109th Congress,” eliminated all earmark spending for FY 2007. According to the resolution:

Any language specifying an earmark in a committee report or statement of managers accompanying an appropriations Act for fiscal year 2006 shall have no legal effect with respect to funds appropriated by this division.

Contrary to Musgrave's implication, the Democratic resolution did not target any specific project, such as the ECPDTF, but rather “pork barrel spending” in general and without regard to political party. In fact, any project slated to receive earmark funding in Colorado's Democratic-controlled districts also was affected by the resolution and denied specific funding.

Other Colorado-based projects that sought to receive federal funding from 2006 appropriations bills that were never approved in the Republican-controlled Congress included:

• $4.2 million to Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Jefferson County for air traffic control facility repair work, Broomfield, CD 2, Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs)

• $1 million to the Colorado Center for Sustainable Energy at Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CD 7, Ed Perlmutter (D-Lakewood) (formerly Bob Beauprez [R-Arvada])

• $300,000 to The Children's Hospital in Denver for an electronic medical records system, Denver, CD 1, Diana DeGette (D-Denver)

• $100,000 to Pueblo to build and renovate recreational facilities and improve parks, CD 3, John Salazar (D-Manassa)

The Senate approved the House resolution barring earmarks on February 14 on an 81-15 vote, the Washington Post noted on February 15:

The fiscal year began on Oct. 1, a deadline that Congress almost always misses, but both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that mid-February is a particularly late time to pass the remaining spending bills. Bush is expected to sign the measure by Friday, when a temporary spending bill expires.

Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations committees, reached agreement on the $463.5 billion bill that would eliminate billions of dollars worth of earmarks, the special-interest provisions inserted into appropriations bills usually with no oversight.

As Media Matters for America has noted, Musgrave is not the first Republican to baselessly criticize the Democratic response to what the Associated Press characterized as “GOP leaders ... opt[ing] to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills.”

From the February 21 article by John Mangalonzo in the Journal-Advocate of Sterling, “Marilyn among friends: Musgrave says Democrats blocked local drug enforcement money”:

The Democrats, the new majority on both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, have “pulled the plug” on the much-needed funding supposedly secured for this year for the Eastern Colorado Plains Drug Task Force, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, R-Colo., said Tuesday.

During a congressional hearing held in Loveland back in July, Musgrave announced that she had secured a direct appropriation funding of $250,000 for the ECPDTF.

This funding came in a time when the task force, which operates in the seven-county jurisdiction of the 13th Judicial District, was in danger of ceasing to exist mainly because of budget constraints.

The money, task force Commander Jeff Annis said shortly after the July hearing, was vital for the group to continue its operation to fight illegal drugs in the mostly rural judicial district.

On Tuesday, during her visit to Sterling, Musgrave laid out the bad news to an audience of residents, business owners and law enforcement alike, including members of the task force.

"(It's) devastating that the Democrats pulled the plug on that," Musgrave said. “They are in the driver's seat.”

She was heartbroken, she said, citing all the work that had been done for the money to flow from the House only to be stopped at the Senate.

[...]

The news of the funding last year was a news that was taken in the highest regard by task force member agencies who in turn showed their appreciation to Musgrave in a simple ceremony at the Logan County Justice Center back in September.

A plaque of appreciation, engraved with the names of the task force member law enforcement agencies was presented to Musgrave during the September ceremony.

Police chiefs, county sheriffs and investigators attended the plaque presentation last year, a show of force and appreciation from lawmen to the lawmaker.

But that was then. This is now.

The funds, according to Musgrave, have already been earmarked to this purpose, but that the political atmosphere in Congress, with the majority shift, has caused the issue.

“Part of it is political. They (Democrats) don't want a Republican to get kudos for things they do for their district,” Musgrave said. “It's another thing that makes you shake your head and see the abuse of power.”

Musgrave said that Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., is currently figuring out ways to solve the dilemma and working with White House contacts to raise the issue.

Musgrave fell short in saying that she is optimistic about the funding's resurrection, but rather said that she is “cautious” granting what had already happened to it.