[NormsRevenge]

There are a lot of different takes on earmarks and their value so to speak to different folks constituents... and whether there are legitimate and justifiable needs that, in many cases, districts' constituents as a whole benefit from.

and when ya look at the amount, 18 Billion this year, it seems like chump change when weighed against the ever burgeoning entitlement programs that do need serious attention and soon.

Obviously , Congre$$ is torn up over the issue..

[NormsRevenge]

McCain’s Democratic rivals, Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, then joined the call for a one-year ban. But the Senate is filled with people who love to earmark, including Republicans such as Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Robert Bennett of Utah.

They opposed the idea, as did Sens. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Ted Stevens of Alaska, who send so much money back to their states that it’s a factor in their local economies. More than half of McCain’s GOP colleagues abandoned him on the showdown Senate vote two weeks ago.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a former member of the pork-dispensing Appropriations Committee, also strongly opposed the moratorium, as did all but a handful of Democrats.

—

California’s Senators must send their earmark money to China and the Middle East, we sure don’t see it here.

[NonValueAdded]

Perfect. Hey, GOP, there’s your campaign commercial. Will anyone have the stones to point out Pelosi’s empty promises and make note of the fact that with the RATs in control of Congress the economy went to hell? kakistocracy!!!

[devane617]

bring my tax money back to my distric from washington. i don’t care if you dump it in the street, at least we will see our money again.

[K-oneTexas]

In 1796, Thomas Jefferson predicted the slippery slope of the federal government funding local road projects when he said, “it will be a scene of eternal scramble among the members, who can get the most money wasted in their State; and they will always get most who are meanest.” In 1822, President James Monroe argued that federal money should be limited “to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.”

from http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=news_porkerofthemonth

[paul51]

it doesn’t matter if it’s 18 billion or 180 billion. congress can’t control themselves because the public can’t control themselves.

[paul51]

it doesn’t matter if it’s 18 billion or 180 billion. congress can’t control themselves because the public can’t control themselves.

[Bishop_Malachi]

when ya look at the amount, 18 Billion this year, it seems like chump change when weighed against the ever burgeoning entitlement programs that do need serious attention and soon.
________________________________________________________

Congress can do both. They can address earmarks and entitlements. Hell, they have time to drag professional baseball players up to Washington to deal with issues that MLB should handle internally.

I’d love to see each individual earmark brought up before Congress in a bill. That would slow down these vote-buying dirtbags that we have up there.

And the next step...return entitlement powers back to the states. The federal government has no business doing it.