Medical Marijuanna, Earmarks and Permanent Facilities in Iraq

There were 70 roll call votes in the last week. I'm going to look at Congressperson Nadler's record on a few of these votes.

Mr Nadler voted in favor of prohibiting spending money for permanent military facilities in Iraq. Although more symbolic than anything else, this sends a useful signal to both the Administration and the wider world.

Mr. Nadler voted in favor of an amendment offered by Congressperson Hinchey, providing that federal funds not be used to prosecute persons prescribed medical marijuanna in those states permitting the same. Clearly, for a number of reasons, from issues of Federalism to effective use of Federal resources, this seems like the right way to go.

Mr. Nadler voted against the Flake amendments to remove certain earmarks, including money for the Lobster Institute and the East Coast Shellfish Research Growers Association. Although, not a rollcall vote, I assume Mr. Nadler also voted against eliminating the $5,000,000 grant for the National Textile Center. On the merits, there doesn't seem to be any reason to use my tax dollars for these purposes. Was Mr. Nadler's vote the wrong one? For example, it's possible that these items were the price of more important provisions and there may be earmarks that benefit our Congressional district. In this regard, it is somewhat interesting that all but a handful of the opponents of these earmarks were Republicans.

Obviously, our district benefits from earmarks also. Mr. Nadler touts $350,000 for the Coalition for the Homeless, $200,000 for the Doe Fund, and $250,000 for the John Jay Center for Study of Gang Violence, $150,000 for the Hudson Guild Fulton Center, $200,000 for the Staten Island Passenger Rail Study and $200,000,000 for Phase 1 of the Second Avenue Subway Line. I assume that most of these organizations do good work. Presumably, one price of obtaining earmarks is going along with everyone else's earmarks. Would we all be better off if all of the earmarks were abolished? Is the 200,000,000 for the Second Avenue Subway Line in the same category as the others?