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The expanded House Republican majority is about to face some tests of unity, so it’s notable that they’re sticking to at least one principle. The House Republican caucus on Friday overwhelmingly beat back a bid by party spenders to reinstate earmarks. This was no foregone conclusion. Four years into the earmark ban, legislators on both sides ....... In introducing his repeal of the earmark ban on Friday, Alabama Rep. Mike Rogers....... .....Tom DeLay logrolling that contributed to the GOP defeat in 2006. Republicans are wise to resist the temptation.

In Washington’s limitless supply of corruption with American tax dollars, the deal that re-opened a supposed “closed” government included something extra special for Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: a $2.8 billion provision to boost funding for the Olmstead dam and lock project on the Ohio River, calling into question the fed’s willingness to fund expensive projects when the country is flat broke. A priority for the minority leader, the Olmstead project would benefit eastern states like McConnell’s Kentucky, Tennessee and Illinois.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Secure resources and funding, and begin construction of a Death Star by 2016. Those who sign here petition the United States government to secure funding and resources, and begin construction on a Death Star by 2016. By focusing our defense resources into a space-superiority platform and weapon system such as a Death Star, the government can spur job creation in the fields of construction, engineering, space exploration, and more, and strengthen our national defense.

Senator says nuts to SDSU 'RoboSquirrel' study - The 'Robosquirrel' developed by San Diego State and UC Davis can move its tail to mimic the behavior of a real animal. UC Davis A San Diego State University research project involving robotic squirrels has been placed on Sen. Tom Coburn's annual list of wasteful government spending, a move the campus says is unfair and misleading. Coburn, R-Okla., issued the list last week, criticizing everything from the use of food stamps to purchase fast food to a subsidy for a struggling ferry business in Alaska. The list also is critical of the...

Republicans in the House of Representatives are flocking to support a bill to extend and create a number of taxpayer-funded subsidies for manufacturers and buyers of vehicles powered by natural gas.   Nearly eighty House Republicans (and a hundred Democrats) have signed up as sponsors of H. R. 1380, the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act (or NAT GAS Act).  Just call it the T. Boone Pickens Earmark Bill.Many conservative Republicans in the House, particularly a number of new Members with Tea Party connections, have sworn that the fiscal and economic crisis confronting America requires a radical change...

President Barack Obama picked a fight Tuesday with his Senate Democratic colleagues over earmarks – and he’s well-positioned to win this battle against the parochial projects. After Obama surprised lawmakers in his State of the Union address with a bold threat to veto all bills with earmarks, Democrats in the Senate grew visibly frustrated, denouncing the president’s call as a power grab that’ll have little-to-no impact on the federal budget deficit. But the reality is that Democrats face a political climate that makes it virtually impossible to get any earmarks through this Congress if Obama and Republicans in Congress maintain...

There’s something curiously missing from this story on Chicago’s Mantu Dance Company. It may be the only time the company has made big news without a mention of Barack and Michelle Obama in years. One can only imagine the headlines were it so closely linked to a Republican President. Illinois officials are taking a closer look at a nonprofit dance company that was awarded a $4.5 million state grant in 2003 for a planned performing arts center on the South Side that has yet to begin construction.

Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget. [ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ] According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which...

When Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill recently went to war over the budget, press coverage suggested that pork-barrel earmark spending is still a bipartisan problem, that after months of self-righteous rhetoric about fiscal discipline, both parties remain equal-opportunity earmarkers. It's not true. A new analysis by a group of federal-spending watchdogs shows a striking imbalance between the parties when it comes to earmark requests. Democrats remain raging spenders, while Republicans have made enormous strides in cleaning up their act. In the Senate, the GOP made only one-third as many earmark requests as Democrats for the still-unpassed 2011 budget, and...

Nothing changes so much as it stays the same. The Democrats continue to be relentless in their determination to destroy this country, and Republicans, despite just coming off an historic electoral victory nationwide, still don’t get it. Republican_Safety_Plan ..... always covering their butts, always a safety net, always a bridge to back track on...(cya)...Picture FITS FOLKS! It would be impossible to imagine under normal circumstances that Democrats in Congress, having gone through what they have for the past two years, do not yet have their facts straight. But nothing changes so much as it stays the same – they still...

ENOUGH! Call the Congressional Switchboard and ask for your Senator's office. NO MORE OUTRAGEOUS SPENDING! NO more hidden projects and sneaky laws passed inside the budget. Tell them (politely of course) IT IS TIME TO STOP. This bill will cost $1.1 TRILLION. There are 1,924 PAGES. EACH PAGE represents $575 MILLION. There are at LEAST 6,488 earmarks. Included in this bill is funding for the beginning of the health care legislation. CALL (202) 224-3121 NOW!!!

Senator John Cornyn appeared on FOX News with anchor Bill Hemmer and hoped to discuss his strong opposition to the massive spending bill proposed by Democrats. Hemmer, however, would not let him escape without addressing Cornyn’s own contribution to the bill: $16 million worth of earmarks. Cornyn said he was in favor of an earmark moratorium yet considered his earmarks “individually defensible.” Hemmer rightly said “I’m confused.” First Cornyn described passing the spending bill at this time as “completely tone deaf . . . after coming off this election when the American people said very clearly that this runaway Washington...

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) will force readings of both a nuclear arms treaty and $1.1 trillion spending bill that could eat up hours of the remaining lame-duck Congress. DeMint will invoke a senatorial privilege to ask that texts of both the New START Treaty and the 2011 omnibus spending bill be read aloud on the Senate floor. The readings could take seven to 12 hours to verbalize the START Treaty, while the omnibus could take 40 to 60 hours, according to a spokesman for DeMint. The readings could eat up a substantial amount of time in the closing days of...

Funding vote to test Obama’s resolve on ending earmarksBy Alexander Bolton - 12/14/10 08:36 PM ET Senate Democrats are moving aggressively to pass a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that will test President Obama’s resolve on opposing congressional earmarks. The 1,924-page bill would set aside funding for thousands of earmarks, according to Senate aides tracking the legislation. Obama last month called for an earmark ban, saying in one of his weekly addresses that “we can’t afford” these items inserted by members of Congress “without adequate review.” Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) on Tuesday called on Obama to intervene in the Senate’s...

Forget about going quietly into the night. Senate Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a broad agenda for an end-of-session sprint that, in other years, could be a whole year's worth of activity — ranging from an arms-reduction treaty with Russia to a major immigration bill to overturning the ban on gay troops. And that's not to mention the nearly 2,000-page, $1.1 trillion massive spending bill Senate Democrats said they'll try to push through. The bill contains hundreds of pork-barrel spending projects and new rules governing everything from airport baggage to detainees at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "We're not through....

The tax cut compromise reached by President Obama and Republicans has passed its first hurdle in the Senate. According to breaking news, the tax deal has gained the 60 votes it needed to advance in the Senate. This would pave the way for the bill's passing in only a day or two. Despite the fact that the bill has now passed its first test, it has been met with some resistance by both Democrats and Republicans. Some Democrats argue that there should be no extension of tax cuts, while many Republicans believe that the extra spending in the bill would...

Dear Fellow Conservatives: Many of you have contacted me about the bipartisan tax deal reached between President Obama and Republican leaders. I've carefully reviewed the legislation and I wanted to explain to you why I cannot support it. First, I do not want to see anyone's taxes go up and I have been fighting for years to permanently extend all the tax rates. I disagree with the President that we cannot afford to extend these rates for everyone. It's the people's money and we should not raise taxes on hardworking American families. But this bill does much more than simply...

Do the congressional Republicans get the message of the 2010 election? The House Appropriations Committee will be a key test. Rep. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) has been a thorn in the side of congressional appropriators — both Democratic and Republican — for years. That this “anti-earmark crusader” has been recommended for a seat on the House Appropriations Committee seems to be a clear indication that Republicans are listening to the American public’s concerns over wasteful spending by Washington. “I don’t see how you can view it any other way,” Flake tells National Review Online. “People expect us to go in...

Washington — After his success in elevating conservative contenders in November, will an energized Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) go after earmark-supporting GOP senators in 2012? DeMint tells NRO that the Senate Conservatives Fund, his political-action committee, will not meddle in primary challenges against Republican incumbents. “We don’t intend to do that; there is no reason to do that with so many Democratic seats up.” “I don’t have plans to campaign against any of the ones here,” DeMint says. “That’s between them and their voters.” DeMint notes that his PAC followed a similar policy last cycle — directing money to...

WASHINGTON -- The Senate Tuesday rejected a GOP bid to ban the practice of larding spending bills with earmarks - those pet projects that lawmakers love to send home to their states. Most Democrats and a handful of Republicans combined to defeat the effort, which would have effectively forbidden the Senate from considering legislation containing earmarks like road and bridge projects, community development funding, grants to local police departments and special-interest tax breaks. The 39-56 tally, however, was a better showing for earmark opponents, who lost a 29-68 vote earlier this year. Any votes next year should be closer because...