Posted on 04/21/2009 4:48:44 AM PDT by kellynla
Capitol Hill lawmakers still brag about the federal dollars and projects they bring home. But in an age of taxpayer-financed bailouts and massive budget deficits, members are increasingly on the defensive about pork-barrel spending.
Pet projects are targets for charges of government waste during tough economic times, and earmarks stuffed into appropriations bills smack of Washington backroom dealing.
Republicans, laboring to re-establish the party's reputation for fiscal restraint, are bearing the brunt of the criticism and being hit from all sides.
Rep. Mary Fallin, a Republican contender in the 2010 Oklahoma governor's race, was criticized last week by her primary rival for not "practicing what she preaches" when it comes to pork spending.
"She is just as guilty on the runaway federal spending that she rails against," said state Sen. Randy Brogdon, who pointed out that Mrs. Fallin requested more than $243 million in pet projects for the upcoming fiscal year.
Lawmakers rarely acquire all the federal funding they request for the projects, but all of the requests are posted on their office Web pages under new earmark disclosure rules.
Mrs. Fallin secured 13 projects worth $4.8 million in the 2009 appropriations bills, according to an earmark tally by Citizens Against Government Waste.
The nonprofit watchdog group's annual "Pig Book," published last week, spawned scores of news reports about pet projects sponsored by members of both parties and supplied fodder for campaign attacks.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
term limits is a bandaid. government inherently expands until the people rise up and say enough is enough.
Well, don't keep us in suspense...if term limits is a “band-aid”...what's your solution?
What sort of system do you want. Earmarks by Congressman or Nonearmarks by Executive branch. Earmarks by Congressman is alot more transparent and is why they were elected in the first place.
I think Repubicans on this forum and radio been bleating up the wrong tree
—the guys who wrote the Constitution put in “term limits”—two years for congressthings and six for senators—they didn’t count on the voters turning ignorant nor did they anticipate huge congressional staffs who do all the real stuff anyway—
We need another revolution like the Contract with America, which quickly produced a balance budget 5 years later. We need people committed to cutting spending. The Contract with America had term limits, and all it accomplished was the good ones who signed up for it ending up quitting when their terms were over and replaced by big spenders. It will take a revolution to get spending under control, not term limits.
talk about a "band-aid"...LMAO
And fifteen years after the “Contract with America” where are we today? The only thing people are “committed” to once they are elected into Congress is getting reelected!
One more example: Lamar Alexander, R-TN, supported one of Obummer’s Bankruptus bills and rationalized his vote by stating that certain projects would be funded in his state.
Alexander and other big government Republicans have eviscerated the party. They must be outed then ousted.
Earmarks reminds me of the quote from former senator Phil Gramm
“if the Senate voted this afternoon on building a cheese factory on the Moon, I would no doubt vote against it. But if the Senate decided, in its collective lack of wisdom, to build a cheese factory on the Moon, I would want engineers from Texas to design that cheese factory. I would want a construction company from Texas, since we have the best construction companies in the world, to build that cheese factory. If we were going to use milk from earthly cows, I would want milk from Texas cows to be used to make the cheese in the factory on the Moon, and I would want the celestial headquarters for it in Texas. But am I for a cheese factory on the Moon? No.”
The republican party has more internal liberals in their ranks now days, other than the democrat party, and there may not be a free election anymore now that the communists are in office. They hate free speech and free elections and gun rights and the whole American constitution and may destroy America within the four year period that they have to undermine the Constitutional rights of Americans given us by the God of Israel.
Ditto Term Limits.
The only purpose of pork is to get the critter reelected.
Pork makes incumbents permanent, due to campaign contributions by the recipients of the pork projects.
Kill ALL pork, and the races will be much more competitive.
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