Senators Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) learned a valuable lession today about member’s desire to go back to the practice of earmarking pet projects. Toomey and McCaskill offered an Amendment to the STOCK Act that would have created a new Senate point of order against earmarks in bills. They were met with bipartisan opposition to this common sense idea.
Many politicians argue that earmarks don’t cost the federal government very much. They say that if you take away earmarks, you are not lowering the cost of appropriations bills. They argue that you are merely transferring authority to fund waste from the legislative branch to the executive branch of the federal government. This argument is bunk.
What do you call the Senate’s Omnibus Spending Bill? An Earmark Bonanza — An Earmark-A-Thon — The Earmark-bus. Clearly, this bill is an outrage to the taxpayer and conservative Senators. The Senate is about to vote on an Omnibus Spending Bill funding the federal government for the year. House and Senate appropriators crafted a bill in secret and, just yesterday, provided text to Senators and the American people. | Read More »
Congress is back in session in what is referred to as the Lame Duck session. Lame Duck refers to the fact that a great number of Members of Congress have been retired, either voluntarily or involuntarily, yet they can vote on legislation and nominations. Congress has not completed work on one of the 12 spending bills to keep the government running into next year and | Read More »
One interest group is very upset about Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) plan to force a vote in the Senate Republican Conference for a two year earmark moratorium — Lobbyists. According to The Hill, the lobbying group that represents lobbyists are very angry and worried that the easy money days of earmarking for dollars is over. Yes, even lobbyists have lobbyist in Washington, D.C. The head of the American | Read More »
Americans are hearing the talking point that earmarks don’t cost the taxpayers any money. This simply is not true. Citizens Against Government Waste, a Congressional watchdog group, has put out a report on wasteful projects from Fiscal Year 2010. They identify $16.5 billion in pork. The Congressional Pig Book is CAGW’s annual compilation of the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2010 Pig Book | Read More »
Our own Erick Erickson was interviewed by The Heritage Foundation (my employer) “In the Green Room.” Erickson was at Heritage to promote his new book Red State Uprising: How to Take Back America. He talked about the Tea Party movement, earmarks and the bi-partisan problem of out of control government spending with Rob Bluey, Heritage’s Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy. Watch then discuss. | Read More »
Taxpayers are against earmarks because they waste money and corrupt the political process. It is that simple. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) authored an excellent Op Ed in Politico attacking earmarks. Cantor writes today that in March Republicans imposed an earmark moratorium for this Congress — a moratorium that expires on January 3, 2011. Cantor is showing some leadership by calling for the elimination | Read More »
The coalition in the Senate to take a one year break from earmarking has gained the support of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). The Hill reported yesterday that Senator Corker has withdrawn all of his earmark requests for this year. Other Senators should follow the leadership of Senator Corker and conservatives should applaud him for pulling out of the “fundamentally flawed” earmarking process.
The left is using every opportunity to fight the filibuster. As I have argued at Red State and Big Government numerous times, the filibuster is essential for democracy. Don’t be fooled, the left will use any excuse to message against the right of the minority to debate nominations and offer amendments to legislation. The far left would like to establish rule without dissent and have contempt for anybody that disagrees | Read More »
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