Congressman Henry Waxman, who easily holds the title of "Longest Sitting Annoying Prig Democrat", sent a letter to Tom Delay, who easily holds the title of "Slimiest Little Faux-Christian Republican Ass", claiming that a $1.5 billion giveaway was inserted into a recent energy bill in an underhanded fashion.

From the letter:

The provision at issue is a 30-page subtitle called "Ultra-Deepwater
and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources." This
subtitle, which was taken from the House-passed energy bill, was
mysteriously inserted in the final energy legislation after the
legislation was closed to further amendment. The conferees were told
that they would have the opportunity to consider and vote on the
provisions in the conference report. But the subtitle was not included
in the base text circulated to conferees, and it was never offered as
an amendment.

Instead, the new subtitle first appeared in the text of the energy
legislation only after Chairman Barton had gaveled the conference over.
Obviously, it would be a serious abuse to secretly slip such a costly
and controversial provision into the energy legislation.

From a Reuters story we find that a spokesperson for Delay retorted with:

A spokesman for DeLay defended the fund, saying it was in
the energy bill approved by the House in April.

"The project is only new to Mr. Waxman if he failed to read
the House bill he had voted on," the spokesman said, adding he
could not explain how the item was added to the final version
of legislation prepared by the Senate and House negotiators.

Uh, correct me if I’m wrong but Congressman Waxman acknowledged that the provision was in the original House bill, but his point is that the provision had not been included in conference and was inserted only after the conference chair had gaveled the proceedings closed.

The purpose of the conference is to remove bits and pieces from each of the House and Senate versions of the bills until the conferees have a version they can live with.  I think it’s called coming up with a compromise in the real world.  Waxman’s point is that the provision was inserted in the final version after the conference was closed, so the conferees never had a chance to approve or disapprove it.

And wouldn’t you know that Delay’s homey’s would benefit nicely from this little $1.5 billion windfall?

For once I’m kind of with Waxman here, but I have to tell you that it’s a sad state of affairs that I actually assumed I’d be on his side when I saw Delay standing on the other side.

I need a shower.