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DeMint Champions Taxpayers, Stands Firm for Earmark Reform

By: Herman Cain (Diary)  |  November 18th, 2010 at 04:14 PM  | 

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[promoted from the diaries by haystack because...well, you figure it out]

Note: This op-ed appeared in the Greenville News of Greenville, South Carolina on Monday, November 15, 2010.

We are fighting two wars overseas. We are in the middle of an entitlement crisis that could bankrupt this country. The national debt is simply out of control. And your elected leaders voted to spend $500,000 of your taxpayer money for Brown Tree Snake control and interdiction in Guam.

In their 2010 report, the non-partisan Citizens Against Government Waste uncovered 9,129 earmarks, also known as “pork barrel projects,” totaling $16.5 billion in a single year of Congressional spending. In fact, the federal government spends nearly three times as much taxpayer money on pet projects in a year as they do to protect our border with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency ($5.7 billion).

While ordinary Americans struggle to keep the lights on and food on the table, members of Congress continue to fund frivolous pet projects with taxpayer money, like wool research costing $206,000 or a farmer’s market in rural Kentucky costing $250,000. Such spending reflects the mindset of the Washington elite- they are completely and totally uninterested in the plight of the American working family. Instead, they are concerned with political favors and ensuring incumbency.

Senator Jim DeMint is different. While others conduct backroom deals to keep the earmarking process alive and kicking, your U.S. Senator has begun to rally other reform-minded leaders in Congress to put a stop to this practice once and for all. In fact, he has even bucked Republican Party leadership, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), to stand firm on his principles.

As any good leader would do, Senator DeMint is insisting that the changes come within the GOP first. He is currently fighting for a change in internal Republican Party rules to prevent any Republican from attempting to pass earmarking legislation.

This isn’t the first time Senator DeMint has taken bold action to stop pork barrel spending. Earlier this year, he authored legislation that would permanently ban earmarks, but it failed in the U.S. Senate.

I hope this time will be different. The American people spoke loudly and clearly November 2, 2010. They are tired of politics as usual and Washington insider deals. They want transparent government that works for and is accountable to the people.

Thankfully, Senator Jim DeMint was listening.

Herman Cain is a radio talk show host in Atlanta, Georgia broadcasting weekdays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on 750 AM and 95.5 FM WSB. Previously, Mr. Cain served as an executive of several major American corporations, including Godfather’s Pizza, where he took the company from the brink of bankruptcy to profitability. Mr. Cain also served as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve in Kansas City and as a senior policy adviser to the Dole/Kemp campaign in 1996. For more information, visit http://www.thehermanatorpac.com.

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COMMENTS

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  • pilgrim

    I understand what Sen. DeMint wants to end in the US Senate, but I disagree with the idea that an earmark process has always been a vile evil process. Before Byrd became Majority Leader in 1977 the earmark process was not used to a great extent, and the specified earmarks had already been vetted with public hearings by authorizing committees before the Appropriations Committee allowed them to be in any bill they passed out of their committee. I am not against what an earmark was prior to the Sen. Byrd era.

    • chbroussard
      • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

        …this used to be a process that was done one bill at a time, say 40-50 years ago, when I first started paying attention, and indeed, most of these bills never saw the light of day.

        (You’re good enough to write a book on the earmark, and when you do, you’ll realize the devastation it has wrought.)

        But the old idea is not a bad idea, if you stop to think about it. Slows Congress down from from writing 1000 pg bills that no one reads until,weeks after they are passed.

        Congress is lazy, that’s a law, and what started as a fast track way to combine hundreds of useless bills that secured nothing more than the congressman’s reputation for being able to bring home the bacon…turned into one of the greatest mechanisms for bribery from…you guessed it… the Left to corrupt the system.

        Herman and deMint are right on this

  • pilgrim
    • eburke

      and McConnell didn’t want to be embarassed by losing a leadership vote.

      Hypocrite!

      • earlgrey
        • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

          http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2010/11/18/all-is-vanitymake-bush-tax-cuts-permanent-and-re-name-them-ova/

          see also immediately below the version in TMR

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

            http://www.theminorityreportblog.com/2010/11/18/raising-cain-over-naughts-temporized-tax-cuts-for-naught/

            restate version

            http://www.redstate.com/gamecock/2010/11/18/all-is-vanitymake-bush-tax-cuts-permanent-and-re-name-them-ova/

            original at examiner

            http://www.examiner.com/law-politics-in-atlanta/make-bush-tax-cuts-permanent-and-henceforth-call-them-obama-tax-cuts

          • E Pluribus Unum

            Outstanding, Mike!

          • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine
      • Scope

        for McConnell to have to admit to himself that DeMint, the Senator under fire by the McConnell wing of the party, was correct all along. McConnell 0, DeMint 1.

  • lineholder
  • ss396

    Ring. Ring.

    Hello?

    Hi, this is Jim over on 27th Street. The stink that that lady was complaining about is another section of that sewer pipe has split.

    Another one? Geez, we’ve had eight calls on that section of pipe in as many months.

    Yeah, the whole 30 blocks needs to be replaced. The whole section is that old. One day it will well and truly give, and that is going to be one god-awful mess. Are we ever going to start the prelims on it? Get some new pipe in there?

    Well, we had $3-mil in our budget request for it, but Sen. Snodgrass has us building that civic center in the park for him instead.

    • Thane_Eichenauer

      Ring. Ring.

      Person 1: Hello?

      Person 2: Hi, this is Jim over on 27th Street. Another section of sewer pipe split.

      Person 1: Gee, it must suck to be you. Senator McConnell was going to fund a project via earmarks to replace that whole section before all the Republicans caved on the issue. Instead of new sewer pipes the Obama administration used that money to pay for a sewer pipe replacement project in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Voters and Democrats in New Mexico sure are happy that the Democrats are smart enough not to be suckered into that whole earmarks are evil hoopla like Senator DeMint says.

      Person 2: Yea. I guess we should have listened to Ron Paul. BTW, how much money does eliminating earmarking save?

      Person 1: Yea, you should have. The answer is none at all.

      Person 2: None at all?

      Person 1: None at all. You _really_ should have listened to Ron Paul.

      Person 2: But, but, but John Boehner said Republicans “got the message” and that forswearing earmarks would reduce government spending.

      Person 1: John Boehner? The same guy that voted for TARP?

      Person 2: Oh, did he vote for that?

      Person 1: Yes, he voted for that. I guess I should not trust that guy’s judgement.

      Person 2: Yea, John Boehner is not a guy whose judgement should be trusted.

      • davesinsanantonio

        If the project has merit it should be able to get funded through regular channels. If it is a sewer pipe, it should be funded locally, not by the Congress! If it is that badly in need of repair, and the locals refuse to pay for it, then let them wallow in their own excretia.
        Everyone should stop the whiny sniveling and man up and pay for their own stuff locally.
        Besides, come January the Dems will no longer be in charge, so the whiners out in New Mexico (per your example) can just start paying for their own stuff anyway.
        Which would you rather have, Thane, your freedom or “free” sewer pipes? “Any government big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take away all you have.” If “free” sewer pipes become that popular we will all end up serfs of the elites in D. C. That end is not for me. I hope it really is not for you either.

      • ss396

        Why is that money laundered through the Federal National government in the first place? Why wasn’t it left in the hands of the local government? Then maybe they’d have something to budget with. But, no, it all has to get funneled uphill so that Sen. Hotshot can build another monument to himself. The communities cannot spent their civic money in the manner they choose. These august folks know everybody’s priorities better than we do ourselves, don’t they?

        A project with merit should be funded locally. But that assumes that they have the funds. Even after it got sucked out of the community, the money was appropriated, but ol’ Sen. Snotgrass decided that he knew better than the locals what their priorities are – you know, something that he could put his name on instead of something that they actually need.

        Your buddy Ron Paul earmarks like there’s no tomorrow; he’s a top notch getter for these things. He just doesn’t have the courage to vote for them. That makes him a liar. He is not a guy whose judgment can be trusted.

  • http://www.alyssakaeding.com Alyssa Kaeding

    Earmark have got to go. I know they are small in relation to the entire budget, but it is still another $16.5 billion the United States does not have. And, it is the principle of it: Enough redistributing taxpayer money to fund ridiculousness.

  • edintexas

    The reference to Brown Tree Snake control in Guam might not have been the best example.This native to Australia species are a real problem not only for Guam, but a potential problem for us. They are mildly poisonous (not a real threat to adults, but children and those allergic can be at risk) and are an invasive species on Guam. A further potential problem is they have been captured in cargo being prepared to depart Guam for other locations. According to the USGS they already have an established population on Saipan.

    http://www.fort.usgs.gov/Resources/Education/BTS/

    Just might be that this is an example of not wasting money.

    • Lina Inverse

      We own that island, got it from the Spanish-American War, lost and recaptured it in WWII, it’s a vital base in the Pacific with 180,000 residents. Our planes brought the snake to the island in WWII, where is has no predators and proceeded to wipe out most of the native bird population.

      The Federal government is 100% responsible for keeping the ecology sane on this small bit of land (209 square miles) and controlling foreign invasive species is a proper duty for it.

      If DeMint wants to gain and maintain our respect he’s going to have to get his staff to pay attention to the important details.

  • jstjoan

    GOP Leader Mitch McConnell reverses course and now supports earmark ban! This is from DC correspondent Jamie Dupree

    http://twitter.com/#!/jamiedupree/status/4249948753240064

  • jamo

    The problem is the corruptable, dishonest political elites discovered that an earmark could be used as a bribe to get others to sign on ligislation.

    The cost of the bribe is never large compared to the total cost of the contract. The point is that it is a BRIBE.

  • http://thesandsinstitute.org Vassar Bushmills

    VB

  • dambama

    Everyone who gets an earmark is agreeing to keep his mouth shut about other peoples earmarks. A code of silence, allowing outrageous use of our hard earned money.

    Plus, in order to not draw unnecessary attention to their own pork, they vote for bloated budgets across the board. Its called “go along to get along.”

    After all how can you raise hell about wasteful spending when you just got a million dollar earmark for some local project?

    Finally, none of this type of spending, for special interests, is authorized by the Constitution. The fact that spending bills emanate from Congress does not mean that they can spend on things not enumerated in the Constitution.

  • drgmyers

    He has the potential to be another Ronald Reagan. Sorely needed right now.