Posted on 01/02/2008 12:19:21 PM PST by mnehring
WASHINGTON — In the closing days before the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, three Presidential candidates have issued statements on earmarks. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) has challenged all candidates to inform taxpayers whether they would issue an executive order telling federal agencies to ignore earmarks that appear in committee reports, as well as other steps they would take to fight pork-barrel spending.
"Taxpayers now know where Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. John McCain, and Gov. Mitt Romney stand on earmarks," said CCAGW President Tom Schatz. "The other candidates should issue their own statements, as wasteful spending is a key concern across the country. Citizens deserve to know what kind of commitments the candidates are making and how they would address earmarks as President of the United States."
Gov. Romney, in a press release on December 21, said "As President, I pledge to use every available method to eliminate wasteful earmarks in the federal budget. One such tool is returning to the President the power to make line-item vetoes. Change in Washington begins when we change the culture that allows earmarks, pet projects and wasteful spending to thrive in the place of being good fiscal stewards of the taxpayers' money."
Gov. Huckabee responded to a question on CCAGW's challenge during a conference call with bloggers on December 28, stating, "I think some of them ought to be vetoed. If they can't be vetoed, then ignore them. But I'll tell you another thing we need to do: push for total transparency of the expenditures of Congress, something we don't have."
On January 1, Sen. McCain issued his response to CCAGW, stating that "Zero is the right number of earmarks." He also said, "As president, my agencies will never have to struggle to understand Congress' earmarking intentions. I will veto every single pork barrel bill Congress sends to my desk. If Congress continues to send them to me, I will use the bully pulpit to make the people who are wasting our tax dollars famous."
An examination of the Heritage Foundation's database of the earmarks in the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill revealed the total number received by Presidential candidates from the Senate and House: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), 261; Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), 57; Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), 52; Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), 46; Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), 10; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), 9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), 6; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), 0. Advertisement
CCAGW will publish each candidate's response on its website, www.ccagw.org, as soon as they are received by the organization.
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), 261; Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), 57; Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), 52; Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), 46; Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), 10; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), 9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), 6; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), 0.
One of Limbaugh's substitute hosts mentioned Ron Paul puts his earmarks in the bills. Then, he votes against the bills, decrying all the pork while expecting the bills to pass. That way, he could maintain his squeaky-clean "smaller government" record AND treat his constituents to some of the pork.
Although I was first quite appalled by this, I guess I don't see anything particularly wrong with it. It's not as if he's supporting the taxation. I suppose he's just saying Congress has already collected the money; if he doesn't take it home, someone else will.
In other words, he is just continuing the problem. If he were just honest about it like, say Hunter, and explain specifically what they are for and why they are needed, it would be one thing, but to go around condemning others and acting holier than thou while he is contributing to the problem simply screams fraud.
Heck, even McCain has pledged never to request earmarks and follows up on that pledge. Hunter fully discloses his and there aren’t any that people would consider highly questionable. Paul, on the other hand, when he discloses them, has shown some very shrimpy pork. Restoring old theaters and trolleys, subsidizing the shrimping industry, creating a federal child tracking database, funding the TTC..etc, etc..
That is one thing McCain has been honest and consistent on. He took the no earmark pledge and has lived up to it.
He certainly did. Thank you for posting this.
Oh, and just to add, it isn’t that he adds a few, he requests more earmarks than any other Texas congressman, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
“An examination of the Heritage Foundation’s database of the earmarks in the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill revealed the total number received by Presidential candidates from the Senate and House: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), 261; Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), 57; Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), 52; Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), 46; Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), 10; Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), 9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), 6; and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), 0.”
Wow, the dems have brought porking to an art form! How much of that went to the military do you suppose? lol
But I thought Hunter was nothing but a pork barrel, earmark spending republican. ;o)
“But I thought Hunter was nothing but a pork barrel, earmark spending republican. ;o)”
If Hunter had a dollar for every lie told about him this last year, he’d be winning this thing.
Even old Ron Paul beat him out this year.
Update,
It looks like not only did Thompson disclose, he was in the leadership to create a disclosure bill and has helped the CCAGW uncover waste through earmarks. (article from 2001)
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_NewsRelease_06052001b
Thanks for asking, I’m glad I looked it up.
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