Murtha's earmarks

The Department of Energy has released a statement saying that they don't even approve of an earmark that Jack Murtha has been trying to slip into appropriations bills for his district.

The Department of Energy is denying Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) claim that it supports his $1 million earmark request for a project in his district aimed at protecting the nation’s natural-gas pipelines.

Murtha attempted yesterday to quell criticism of a so-called mystery $1 million earmark to establish the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Concurrent Technology Corporation (CTC), a nonprofit technology innovation center in Johnstown, Pa., that has received millions of dollars in earmarks in recent years.

DoE spokeswoman Anne Kolton said yesterday the earmark is not a program that meets the department’s “mission critical” threshold, noting it was “inconsistent” with the department’s 2008 budget.

Anti-earmark crusader Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) challenged the earmark on the House floor Tuesday, asking if the “mysterious” Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure even existed because he and his staff couldn’t find a website for it. Flake’s challenge failed, 98-326.

In response to Flake, Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-Ind.), who chairs the spending subcommittee responsible for the project, admitted he didn’t know whether it existed.

So the Department doesn't want the item and the chairman of the subcommittee in charge of the project doesn't even know if it exists. Yup, this is an important item for us to fund.