Free Republic 1st Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $74,463
91%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 91%!! Thank you everyone!! God bless.

Keyword: earmark

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • 1,776 EARMARK REQUESTS FOR DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS

    07/26/2007 10:46:53 AM PDT · by Joe Voter · 14 replies · 484+ views
    The Democrats don't want to miss a chance to spend taxpayers money. The Defense Appropriations Bill contains 1,776 Earmark requests. Earmarks is another word for Pork. Typically, Pork or Earmarks are a way for legislators to pay off their campaign debts by funding a specific project that a campaign contributor wants. The Contributor usually donates money to their Congressman's campaign, after the Congressman is elected, he or she uses a earmarks, which direct a specified amount of money to a particular organization or project owned by the Contributor. This differs from the appropriation of money to a particular government agency,...
  • Does One Million Dollars Matter to Congress?

    07/23/2007 3:45:35 AM PDT · by Joe Voter · 9 replies · 895+ views
    t would take me roughly twenty eight years to earn a million dollars, however, it only takes Congress a few minutes to give it away. But does Congress really know who is getting the money that they are so freely giving away? Apparently not, Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona questioned Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Indiana) on the House floor July 17,2007 about whether the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure actually exists since it is receiving over a Million Dollars. Rep. Flake's staff could find no information on the Center, not even a website. Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Indiana), whether the Center...
  • Mollohan Earmark Could Financially Benefit Him

    07/02/2007 9:23:29 AM PDT · by No Dog · 1 replies · 820+ views
    No Agenda ^ | 7/2/07 | Matt Margolis
    If Nancy Pelosi's and Harry Reid's shady land deals weren't enough to signal to Rep. Alan Mollohan (who is already under investigation) not to get involved in earmarks that could increase the value of your own property, then you got all the proof you need that Democrats think they are above the law.
  • Taking a Step Backward on Earmarks (OBEY--put earmarks into conference reports without scrutiny!)

    06/08/2007 9:29:53 AM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 7 replies · 787+ views
    Town Hall ^ | June 8, 2007 | John Boehner
    After repeatedly promising the “most honest” and “most open” Congress in history, Democratic leaders have moved to make the earmark process entirely secret. It started in January when the House quickly adopted rules that have prevented lawmakers from challenging an earmark as long as the bill to which it's attached contains a list of earmarks – even if the list is inaccurate and doesn't list the earmark at issue. The rules were supposed to ensure all earmarks receive appropriate scrutiny and opportunity for debate but have instead made it nearly impossible to challenge wasteful spending. In fact, in February...
  • Ban on pet projects won't stop trading (Scope of Congressional earmark ban limited)

    12/26/2006 10:21:57 PM PST · by NormsRevenge · 285+ views
    AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/26/06 | Andrew Taylor - ap
    WASHINGTON - Democrats may have declared a one-year moratorium on pet projects treasured by members of Congress, but the move will hardly stop horse trading in Washington or moves by lawmakers to try to steer taxpayer money back home. Nor will it touch billions of dollars in already budgeted Pentagon earmarks, which go to everything from research into better body armor for overseas troops to finding bone marrow matches to treat leukemia patients. The temporary ban on earmarks — footnotes in spending bills that lawmakers use to deliver federal bacon to their states — has been greeted with applause by...
  • Earmark reform less than meets the eye

    09/21/2006 9:36:45 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 2 replies · 240+ views
    North County Times ^ | 9/21/06 | Editorial
    Our view: House bill to clean up pork practices not nearly enough to stem budgeting abuses The earmark reform bill passed by the House last week is too little, way too late. Hailed by its supporters ---- including local U.S. Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad ---- the bill will require the House's powerful Appropriations Committee to disclose which earmarks it approves and which congressmen asked for them through the end of this year. Transparency is a worthy goal, and can only help keep our representatives accountable for their earmarks ---- the practice of placing special projects on spending bills unanimously and...
  • CA: Lewis balks at earmark legislation

    09/14/2006 9:43:13 AM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 3 replies · 452+ views
    The Hill ^ | 9/14/06 | Elana Schor and Patrick O'Connor
    House Republican appropriators remained unwilling yesterday to publicly endorse their leadership’s resolution requiring disclosure of earmark sponsors, setting up a possible rebellion by committee members that could bring down the resolution. Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) huddled with his panel yesterday afternoon but emerged with no firm panel-wide plan to oppose the earmark-reform resolution. Many GOP appropriators believe the resolution singles out their committee’s product while applying a narrow definition of tax and authorizing earmarks. “We are attempting to communicate with leadership that this committee feels very strongly that earmark reform is a priority, but it should apply to everybody,”...
  • Congress sends financial transparency bill to White House [Coburn Earmark Bill Passes House]

    09/14/2006 9:29:15 AM PDT · by RobFromGa · 21 replies · 932+ views
    The House ^ | September 14, 2006 | Matthew Weigelt
    Congress sends financial transparency bill to White House BY Matthew Weigelt Published on Sept. 14, 2006 Congress is sending legislation to President Bush that would require the Office of Management and Budget to build a publicly accessible online database of who receives federal money. The House passed by voice vote the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (S. 2590) Sept. 13. “Sunshine is the best disinfectant,” said Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, on the House floor. Earlier this year, Davis and Majority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced a similar bill, which the House...
  • Murtha brings shame to Pennsylvania: pet earmark project wastes $2 million tax payers' dollars...

    07/30/2006 4:14:50 PM PDT · by IPWGOP · 64 replies · 1,829+ views
    BootMurtha.com ^ | 7/30/2006 | IPWGOP
    Murtha brings shame to PA: pet earmark project wastes $2 million Rep. John Murtha's shamelessearmarking* ways have brought shame to his home state – specificallyCommunity College of Allegheny County (CCAC) and Carnegie Mellon University, both located in Pittsburgh. According to an article in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [LINK], a two-million-dollar earmarked grant was initiated in 2003 through the Defense Department for a program to train people how to "safeguard America's businesses from threats to their computer systems and databases". The program fizzled:Documents obtained from CCAC [Community College of Allegheny County, PA] under the federal Freedom of Information Act show the...
  • Stopping Pork Barrel Spending

    06/26/2006 9:11:17 AM PDT · by Sean Flynn · 14 replies · 475+ views
    New York Sun ^ | June 22, 2006 | Matt Kibbe
    Thirty-five years ago, Richard Nixon justified his big-government economic policies by stating: "We are all Keynesians now." Given the way government spending has exploded in the last six years, a similarly candid member of the current Congress or administration would be forced to observe: "We are all big spenders now." While many on the left would applaud such a day, fiscal conservatives are desperately looking for some reason to think this is not true of their elected officials. Fortunately, the House is about to vote on a bill that would make it easier to trim some of the budgetary fat...
  • County subpoenaed in probe of congressman, lobbyist - San Bernardino Co., Jerry Lewis-R

    06/01/2006 7:30:03 PM PDT · by NormsRevenge · 315+ views
    AP on Bakersfield Californian ^ | 6/1/06 | Erica Warner - ap
    San Bernardino County, Calif., has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury for records connected to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, and a lobbying firm with strong ties to Lewis, a county official said. The subpoena asked for all records of the county's correspondence with Lewis and his staff and with the lobbying firm, Copeland, Lowery, Jacquez, Denton, & White, which employs former California Republican congressman Bill Lowery, said San Bernardino County's chief deputy counsel, Daniel B. Haueter. Haueter said that the county, which hired Copeland, Lowery in 2002, was complying. Lewis represents portions of the inland Southern...
  • Mollohan’s beach house for sale

    05/12/2006 9:17:00 AM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 10 replies · 682+ views
    Charleston Daily Mail ^ | May 11, 2006 | George Hohmann
    Congressman: It was purchased as investment propertyCHARLESTON — U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan’s beach house is for sale. Asking price: $3.7 million. Mollohan and his wife, Barbara, built the house on Bald Head Island, N.C., in late 2004. Mollohan said that his mother loaned the couple the down payment on the house, which was about $260,000, and he and his wife have a $2 million mortgage on it. The house sleeps 14, according to an advertisement on Bald Head Island Rentals’ Web site. It has six bedrooms, six full baths and five half baths. It has 4,500 square feet of heated...
  • Lawmaker (Mollohan, D-WV) Bought Farm With CEO

    04/25/2006 1:04:56 PM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 38 replies · 854+ views
    Wall Street Journal ^ | April 25, 2006 | John Wilke
    Rep. Alan B. Mollohan, the West Virginia Democrat whose real-estate holdings and financial disclosures have drawn federal scrutiny, last year bought a 300-acre farm with the head of a small defense contractor that had won a $2.1 million contract from funds that the congressman added to a 2005 spending bill. The joint purchase of the farm, which sits on the Cheat River in West Virginia, is the most direct tie yet disclosed between Rep. Mollohan and a beneficiary of the federal spending he has steered toward his home state. It raises new questions about possible conflicts of interest by Rep....
  • NLPC Calls Mollohan Claim that Asset Value Rose More Than 6,566 Percent 'Literally Unbelievable'

    04/20/2006 6:32:52 AM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 8 replies · 713+ views
    FALLS CHURCH, Va., April 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) conducted a nine-month investigation into Rep. Alan Mollohan's Financial Disclosure Reports and concluded that it contained more than 200 errors or omissions. NLPC issued the following statement responding to Rep. Mollohan's defense of his sharp rise in wealth in recent years: Mollohan's recent statement was characterized as "a detailed response to two major allegations" which described as the alleged unexplained increase in the value of his assets from 2000 to 2004 and the allegation that he grossly underestimated the value of his investments over nine...
  • WV’s Mollohan Subject of Federal Investigation; He’s Top Democrat on House Ethics Committee

    04/09/2006 9:26:43 AM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 30 replies · 2,117+ views
    Huntington News ^ | April 9, 2006 | HNN Staff
    Fairmont, WV (HNN) – The Wall Street Journal broke the story on the front page of the Friday, April 7, 2006 edition. The New York Times followed on Saturday, April 8, 2006. By today, everybody will have a story on the federal probe into the financial affairs of U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-WV, representing the Mountain State’s first congressional district. Caught flat-footed by the Wall Street Journal scoop, The Washington Post on Saturday, April 8, reported with a second-day lede that Republican leaders called on Mollohan, 62, to step down from his ranking position of the House Ethics Committee because...
  • Earmark Scandal? DOJ Reportedly Investigating WV Congressman Following Nine-Month NLPC Investigation

    04/07/2006 12:13:15 PM PDT · by Ooh-Ah · 12 replies · 1,093+ views
    National Center for Public Policy Research ^ | April 7, 2006 | Amy Ridenour
    Despite significant blogosphere attention to the dubious (or, at the very least, excessive) Congressional practice of "earmarking," I'm not seeing a lot of attention on blogs today about this press release from the National Legal and Policy Center: NLPC Complaint Alleges Ranking House Ethics Committee Member Hid Assets and Funded Business Partner's Groups with Millions in Earmarks The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) today disclosed that it filed a 500-page Complaint on February 28 with the office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia detailing hundreds of ethics law violations by Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV). Rep. Mollohan...
  • Earmarks of Success - Pork as a constitutional imperative

    04/06/2006 12:32:54 PM PDT · by neverdem · 3 replies · 311+ views
    Reason ^ | April 5, 2006 | Jacob Sullum
    Pork as a constitutional imperativeCritics of the lobbying reform bill recently passed by the Senate say it doesn’t adequately address earmarks, those highly specific appropriations legislators slip into spending bills to help special interests. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spoke for many when he said this kind of spending "has bred lobbyists, which has bred corruption," leading to "all these egregious abuses."But according to Sen. Larry Craig and Rep. Mike Simpson, earmarking is every legislator’s constitutional duty. "The framers of the Constitution clearly stated that Congress, not the President or federal bureaucrats, should allocate funding for the various functions of government,"...
  • Earmark Reform

    03/21/2006 2:28:49 PM PST · by Small-L · 3 replies · 237+ views
    Council for Citizens Against Government Waste ^ | March 16, 2006 | Thomas A. Schatz
    ...The seven-point criteria to classify a project as pork-barrel spending were developed in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. They are: * The project was requested by only one member of Congress; * The project was not specifically authorized; * The project was not competitively awarded; * The project was not requested by the President; * The project greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding; * The project was not the subject of a hearing; and, * The project only serves a local or special interest. Any project that meets one or more of these...
  • Lawmakers' pet projects hitch ride with NASA

    09/30/2002 7:48:09 AM PDT · by The_Victor · 2 replies · 148+ views
    Orlando Sentinel ^ | 9/29/02 | Michael Cabbage
    WASHINGTON -- Congress is spending millions from NASA's budget on pork-barrel projects while the space agency's core programs are being trimmed to find the money. Fisheries, business jets, museum exhibits and gardening studies are among the items recently funded through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lawmakers intent on bringing home the bacon increasingly are squandering NASA's scarce resources on pet projects that are often, at best, only marginally related to space exploration and research.