Paradoxes pervade DFAS vote

From The Plain Dealer...

 

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Washington -

If you wanted a case study on bi zarre, unpredictable and arguably schizophrenic behavior, you'd have done well to watch the Ohio delegation in Congress last week.

Start with Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Ohioans doubt the former Cleveland mayor can become president; he got 2 percent support from the state's Democratic voters in a new Quinnipiac University poll. Yet Kucinich nonetheless fought for constituents - sort of - in the lead-up to the big House vote of the week, a $464 billion spending measure to keep the government going through this fiscal year.

Kucinich argued, as did Ohio's senators and others, that it would be a shame to subject the NASA Glenn Research Center in Brook Park to threatened job-killing reductions in aeronautics research. In the end, big cuts were avoided.

Kucinich then sent out a news release declaring victory. But something was missing from even the fine print.

Kucinich had actually voted against the spending measure.

Next, turn to Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Kucinich's cross-town Democratic colleague.

Unlike Kucinich, she voted for the bill.

It was necessary, she said through her spokeswoman, to keep the government operating, since the Republican Congress of 2006 failed to pass bills to pay civil servants' salaries and keep the lights on.

This budgetary mess could have been avoided, she and others said, had the GOP leadership done its job last year. Instead, the House was forced to make decisions about 2007 spending only five days before President Bush was to unveil his 2008 budget.

But there's a twist. The 2007 spending measure, if approved by the Senate as expected, will deny Bush much of the money he wants to use for consolidating military bases.

That would please cities that hated to see their bases go.

Problem is, their pain was to be Cleveland's gain, with 1,000 new payroll-processing jobs for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) offices in downtown Cleveland. Which is in Tubbs Jones' district.

Cleveland's receipt of the new jobs now will be delayed and could be jeopardized, warned Steve LaTourette, the Republican congressman from Lake County who has been chiefly responsible for Cleveland's anticipated gain. Naturally, he voted Wednesday against the spending bill that puts those jobs at risk.

Kucinich shared that concern, which is one reason he, too, voted no, despite his cheers for NASA. The other reason: The measure included more than $6 billion for nuclear weapons.

"I cannot bring myself to vote for any legislation that further endangers the world," Kucinich said on the floor.

So to recap the score: LaTourette, who voted against the bill, put out a news release expressing his worries over DFAS jobs. Kucinich, who also voted against it, sent out a news release praising jobs being saved at NASA, but didn't mention his "no" vote. Tubbs Jones, who voted for the bill, was silent - sort of.

She issued a news release late Wednesday - mentioning neither DFAS nor NASA. Rather, hers was in praise of a decision by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that could delay and possibly halt big companies such as Wal-Mart from opening banks.

"I commend the FDIC on their decision . . ." her release said.

What about the possible loss of expected jobs in her district?

Not to worry, her office said when asked. DFAS can be saved through a supplemental spending bill that Bush will send to Congress soon. Democrat Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, a member of the subcommittee that approves defense spending, made similar assurances.

About that supplemental bill: Its main purpose will be to provide more money for the Iraq war. Democrats expect to approve it, even though they deplore the war, because they want to support American troops.

So if Tubbs Jones is correct, DFAS might not lose after all. The war in Iraq, hated by Tubbs Jones, the majority in Congress and much of the country, will save it.

Who said Congress has no sense of irony?

Koff is The Plain Dealer's Washington bureau chief.

To reach Stephen Koff

skoff@plaind.com, 216-999-4212