House Republicans defend use of earmarks as Congress passes spending bills with $13 billion of pork
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., chair of the House Freedom Caucus, disagrees with Republicans who support and sponsor earmarks, arguing that “earmarks represent the worst in Washington because they are pet projects back in somebody’s district used to buy votes.”
There were about 6,000 earmarks taking up 605 pages in the minibus spending package that passed. The package contains 6 appropriations bills.
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told Just the News that the previous ban on earmarks should be resurrected. “It’s another step in the wrong direction. It does nothing to cut our spending, it does nothing to secure our border, and worse than that, you mentioned, you’ve got nearly 7,000 earmarks for about $13 billion.”
“And earmarks represent the worst in Washington because they are pet projects back in somebody’s district used to buy votes,” Good continued. “It’s something that was eliminated about 15 years ago, it got brought back by the Dems when they got control. But Republicans have kept it much to my dismay, I oppose earmarks and we ought not to be doing that.”
Rand Paul’s office identified 10 earmarks that caught his attention, including:
*$4 million for a “waterfront walkway” in New Jersey;
*$3.5 million for “Detroit’s Thanksgiving Parade float maker’s new headquarters”;
*$1.75 million for the Met (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) located in New York City;
*$1 million for an “environmental justice center” in New York City,
*$500,000 to be put toward gardens in San Francisco;
*$1 million to a non-profit organization in Minnesota to “build a coffee shop and a greenhouse for refugees”;
*$1 million in assistance for San Francisco organic dairy farmers;
*$500,000 in funding for a “cybercrime vehicle” in the Honolulu police department;
*$1.2 million for “bike path resurfacing in Rhode Island”; and
*$209,000 for “HVAC replacement for the Charles Town Opera House” in West Virginia.”
Outlaw so-called "Omnibus Bills".
Allow only single issue bills.
The founders did not intend congress ro become a mechanism to extort money from productive citizens under threat of penalties
and use the confiscated wealth to enrich elected officials, their friends and special interest groups.