john murtha

The news that “dozens” of House lawmakers are under scrutiny by ethics investigators — reported last night by The Washington Post — will likely stir a small storm in Washington, particularly on an otherwise quiet Friday when Congress is out of town.
Yet few details contained in the leaked document are new (which makes some sense [...]

The candidates share a rationale: if any Democrats deserve to lose next year, it will be the powerful committee chairmen who are shepherding the party’s agenda through Congress.

Good catch by Paul Bedard, from a town hall meeting where first-term conservative Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.) was asked if he’d support Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for Speaker of the House again.
I would not vote for her. Someone that divisive and that polarizing cannot bring us together.
What Griffith is suggesting is not unprecedented. Rep. Gene [...]

Just as it did with the Senate’s defense authorization bill, the White House released a statement warning the House Appropriations Committee against placing any money for the F-22 fighter jet — which the Senate killed — into its companion legislation:
The Administration strongly objects to $369 million in unrequested advanced procurement funding provided for 12 F-22 [...]

I asked Rob Fuller, Lockheed Martin’s chief spokesman for the F-22 jet that it manufactures, what his reaction was to the Senate’s vote to strip funding for the F-22 from the defense authorization. And since the House’s companion bill has F-22 money in it, will Lockheed lobby to keep the funding in a conference bill? [...]

Fresh off last week’s news that companies run by the nephew of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the prominent House defense appropriator, have received millions of dollars in no-bid defense contracts, The Washington Post follow with the revelation that, contrary to prior claims, nephew Robert Murtha milked the position of his powerful uncle for every [...]

Because even if it happened innocently or accidentally or meritoriously, it still doesn’t look good when the nephew of Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), who chairs the House subcommittee that directs defense spending, shows up with a $4 million no-bid defense contract, as The Washington Post reported today.
[L]ast year, Murtech received $4 million in Pentagon work, [...]

Congressional Democrats are learning the tough way that transparency in the legislative process has its pitfalls.
CQ is reporting today that 104 House members — nearly a quarter of the lower chamber — secured earmarks in a 2008 defense spending bill for clients of a single lobbying firm with strong ties to powerhouse appropriator Rep. John [...]

Longtime Democratic Rep. John Murtha of Johnstown, Pa., is still revered in many circles for speaking out early against the Iraq war. But conservatives think he might be vulnerable this year because of his recent observation that “there is no question that Western Pennsylvania is a racist area.”
Murtha was explaining why he thought Sen. Barack [...]