DeMint Amendment Would Block Rangel's 'Monument to Me'
10/18/2007 - 09:14:29 AM
**UPDATE: Final roll count vote: 31-64. Check out the list to see which senators took a stand with DeMint against wasteful spending.**
Sen. DeMint has offered an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill to strike a wasteful, $2 million pork project being dubbed as Rep. Charlie Rangel's "Monument to Me." As described by Roll Call this morning: "In what may be the ultimate in vanity plates, House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) is hoping to steer some $2 million to a building project at the City College of New York that will house — wait for it — not one, not two, but three construction projects bearing the gravelly voiced lawmaker’s name." The project will reportedly include: the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service, the Rangel Conference Center, the Charles Rangel Library, and a “well-furnished office” for the lawmaker.
A brochure promoting the center brags that the future library, which is to be filled with Rangel's documents and memorabilia, will rival the libraries of Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter in its importance. "It’s kind of like a presidential library, but without a president," summed up CBS News during a Sept. 14 report exposing the earmark.
The self-serving project would "prepare individuals for careers in public service," according to a committee report. However, a quick search on the City College of New York's Web site reveals the school already has a program dedicated to preparing students for public service: the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies, founded in 1997, provides an Ed Koch Scholarship in Public Service program that awards 15 students with a four-year scholarship of $5,000 per year.
According to a press release on Rangel’s Web site, the center will be funded at the level of $30 million primarily by individual, foundation and corporate donors. Rangel recently acknowledged that $25 million has been raised for the project, raising the question as to why an additional $5 million cannont be raised without taxpayer assistance.
According to CBS News, the inspiration for Rangel’s library and the idea to give it federal funding came from Rangel, not the college. When asked if Rangel wanted his name on the center, City College spokeswoman was at a loss for words, unwilling to respond. (Click here to watch the video.)
When confronted about the earmark by Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) on the House floor, Rangel shot back: "I would have a problem if you did it, because I don't think that you've been around long enough that having your name on something to inspire a building like this in a school." (Read all about the incident on Campbell's own blog: Green Eyeshade.)
This "Monument to Me" earmark is inappropriate and a clear example of wasteful pork-barrel spending. The Senate should take a stand against this specific project and work to exclude it from the House-Senate conference report. Senator DeMint's amendment provides that opportunity.
