Webb: House Was Free to Stuff Stimulus with Pork

The Obama administration gave Congress a bottom-line price tag for the economic stimulus package, which Congress was then free to fill with projects, one Democratic Senator said Thursday.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) said that lawmakers were given free reign to fill up the economic stimulus package now under consideration with pet packages as a result of the administration’s approach.

“The way the administration was pitching them was basically giving us a top line,” Webb said during an appearance on MSNBC Thursday morning. “You really did have these proposals going into the appropriations committees and filling up the bucket with projects.”

Webb said that a bipartisan group of Senators will try to exorcise some of the less stimulative elements from the $825 billion package passed by the House, to be substituted with some better programs.

“We’re trying to reach out to people of like mind among the Republicans,” Webb said. “If we give some sort of inspiration in the short term we can help the economy go forward.”

Watch a video of the interview here: