|
Jeb in the News
| |
|
Congressman fights against rise of earmarks in Washington
|
|
| |
|
By Michael Hannigan
As Published in the Malakoff News September 7, 2007
|
|
| |
|
Having a mule and packers museum might be great for Californians, but Henderson County Congressman Jeb Hensarling wonders why Texans should pay for it.
Hensarling was in the Cedar Creek Lake area last week to lodge a protest against earmarks.
Earmark is the term used for special money slipped into a bill to fund projects in lawmakers’ home districts, like $50,000 for the National Mule and Packers Museum.
Hensarling said the practice is costing taxpayers.
"The budget that Congress recently passed against my debate, against my vote, includes the largest tax increase in history," Hensarling said during a stop at The Malakoff News Wednesday. "Part of it is going to go to earmarks."
Pork-barrel politics in Washington is nothing new, but it is growing according to some.
The budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense says that the 1970 Defense Appropriations Bill had a dozen earmarks; the 1980 bill had 62 earmarks; and by 2005, the defense bill alone had skyrocketed to 2,671 earmarks.
According to Hensarling, the group counted 7,778 earmarks in House-passed bills so far this year.
Some notable earmarks in the current budget, according to Hensarling, include:
- $2 million for the "Rangel Center for Public Services," requested by Rep. Charles Rangel to provide himself an office and library;
- $1 million for the Center for Critical Infrastructure, an organization no one could confirm existed;
- $300,000 to train future employees of Hollywood movie sets;
- $231,000 for an airport that does not exist in Illinois; and,
The fight against earmarks doesn’t always lie upon party lines. Republicans and Democrats both have benefited from earmarks, and Congressional members from both sides of the aisle have fought pork barrel spending.
"At the beginning of this year I told members I wanted to cut the total dollar amount of earmarks in half for appropriate accounts," Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., told The Associated Press recently. "A lot of folks are unhappy about it, but over the summer we passed every appropriations bill and I'm proud to say we met that goal."
Few, however, can say they attack the problem like Hensarling. The non-profit watch dog group …. Said that Hensarling is one of only …. Congressmen to line up against earmarks 100 percent of the time in House bill amendment votes.
"We have to go further in changing the culture of spending and not expending funds for any purpose simply because we think of it or because we say good things can be done with more or new funding," Hensarling said. "Better things can be done when the taxpayers keep their own money."
Hensarling said he will do more than just vote against earmarks.
"I have decided not to request earmarks for my district so I can fight along with other House conservatives to increase sunshine on the earmark process as well as reduce the number of and eliminate the truly egregious earmarks …," he said.
One way Hensarling wants to fight overspending is by giving the President line item veto authority. In Hensarling’s plan, a line item veto would trigger the need for an up or down vote in Congress on a particular spending project.
The legislation Hensarling introduced would also place a cap on the growth of the federal budget and establish a commission to make recommendations on how to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse. |
|
|
