Showing posts with label pork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pork. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

US senator honors fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability

US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) replied to a letter I wrote to him as a constituent on the issue of spending earmarks. He agreed with me that we need more transparency and accountability in Congress, especially when it comes to spending the taxpayer's money. He co-sponsored the recent one-year earmark moratorium amendment that eventually failed to pass. He says the right words to me as a government reformer, and am honored to have him as one of my senators.

Here is a snippet of that letter of his:

" Members of Congress should have a say in how their constituents’ tax dollars are allocated, but every earmark should be openly debated and voted on. Taxpayers in Texas, and across the country, demand and deserve greater fiscal discipline and accountability in Washington, D.C. I have worked hard during my time in the Senate to reduce the size of government and eliminate wasteful spending—saving taxpayers’ money. Although the Senate did not pass this one-year moratorium amendment, it is my hope that by continuing to work together to fix the broken process by which we allocate federal dollars, Congress will send a clear message to the American people that we are listening.

America’s founding fathers understood a free society could not exist without informed citizens and an open, accessible government. That’s why strengthening government transparency and accountability has been among my highest priorities since coming to the Senate. The more information that we can put in the hands of the American people about what Congress does on a daily basis, the stronger our democracy will be. I can think of no area where accountability is more important than in the process of how Congress spends the money that Texans send to Washington. "

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Pork requests flooding Appropriations Committee right now

It looks like business as usual for Washington, DC, as a flood of earmark requests is deluging upon the Appropriations Committee as we speak. Diligence is the word for fiscal discipline activists from several public interest groups.

From Americans for Prosperity's blog:

" We just received this forwarded e-mail from a source on Capitol Hill - it looks like a "massive influx" of pork requests has essentially crashed the Appropriations Committee's site. As a result, they're extending the deadline for pork requests from today until Monday - good news for the porkers, but bad news for the taxpayers:

----- Original Message -----
From: Nabors, Rob
Sent: Wed Mar 19 15:06:17 2008
Subject: URGENT -- EXTENSION OF DEADLINE FOR APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE REQUESTS. PLEASE DISTRIBUTE TO APPROPRIATE STAFF.

Dear Member Offices:

As a result of the massive influx of requests being submitted today, the Appropriations Committee website is experiencing unavoidable access and processing delays.

In order to accommodate Member offices attempting to input data, any request submitted by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 24th will be considered as having been submitted “on time” for purposes of consideration by the Committee.

Sincerely,

Rob Nabors

Staff Director and Clerk

House Appropriations Committee "


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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Check if your Congressmembers' websites include local appropriations (earmarks) forms

According to a recent Americans for Prosperity blog post, at least three Congressmembers have online earmark request forms! That's right, if you are a constituent of these public servants, you can request federal money for non-legislative, locally-based projects online:

Florida Senator Bill Nelson: http://www.billnelson.senate.gov/contact/appropriationsfy09.cfm

Montana Representative Denny Rehberg: http://www.house.gov/rehberg/approps.form.shtml [Page not found]

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown: http://brown.senate.gov/ohio/constituent_services/spending_request/


Check your own two US Senators' and US Representative's websites to see if they presently offer this same online constituent appropriations "service".

AFP in its post suggests we taxpayers hijack these online forms "to make a statement about just how big a problem earmarks have become (wink wink, nudge, nudge) and to demand transparency for earmark requests before earmarks make it into appropriations reports." I don't know how this may (legally) be done, but we are the owners of this country, and our representatives work for us... it is up to us, ultimately...



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Monday, March 03, 2008

Video from US Rep. Murtha's pork crash!

Government Bytes blog has a wonderful video clip of the recent lobbyist dinner honoring US Rep. Murtha (D-PA) for his earmarks ways. You may remember that Murtha was annointed 2007 Porker of the Year by Citizens Against Government Waste's readers.

Taxpayers pay tribute to him with protests! Enjoy! Only one minute long..

Video from the PORK Crash!


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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

U.S. Rep. John Murtha is 2007 Porker of the Year

Well, it's been voted on by you, the citizens at Citizens Against Government Waste-- U.S. Representative John Murtha (Dem.-PA) is the "coveted" (by Murtha) 2007 Porker of the Year!

You saw him throw a temper tantrum and threaten fellow appropriations committee members where his earmarks are often made last May, and voted him Porker of the Month.

But he didn't stop there. Rep. Jack Murtha has long been known inside the Beltway for using threats, power plays, and backroom deals to control spending decisions. There is an area of the House floor known as “Murtha’s Corner,” where the legendary appropriator dispenses earmarks.

Get more of the sordid details of this legendary porkmeister at a webpage devoted just for this "coveted" prize at Swine Line blog.

UPDATE: Judicial Watch's Corruption Chronicles blog shares with us the annual appreciation dinner for Rep. Murtha by the same contractors that enjoy the free federal money known as earmarks:

" To show their appreciation, the contractors hold an annual payback dinner for Murtha at a fancy Washington-area venue. This year’s event (“an evening with Jack and Joyce Murtha”) is scheduled for February 27 at the Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in Virginia, across the Potomac from Washington. Diners (earmark recipients) will pay $1,500 a person to eat with Murtha and his wife.

Of interesting note is that the invitations to the costly dinner were sent out right before the annual deadline for earmark applications. Murtha ended up getting more earmark dollars than any other legislator in the massive 2008 military spending bill. He secured 48 earmarks for a total $150.5 million. "

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Friday, February 15, 2008

Congressional earmark database complete for FY 2008

Taxpayers for Common Sense has completed its database of fiscal year 2008 appropriations bills earmarks.

Congress inserted 12,881 earmarks worth $18.3 billion into this year’s spending bills, $14.8 billion of which were disclosed by lawmakers. This represents a 23 percent cut in total earmarks from the high water mark of 2005, but a smaller cut than the 50 percent reduction House leadership initially set as its goal.

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Vote for 2007 Porker of the Year

Swineline blog from Citizens Against Government Waste has opened an online poll for 2007 "Porker of the Year". Yes, now you can have your say on who was the most egregious earmark spender among the U.S. Representatives and U.S. Senators in our hallowed halls of Congress! Vote now!

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Thursday, October 25, 2007

CAGW Names U.S. Senator Shelby Porker of the Month

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) Porker of the Month for October 2007 for an $11 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) earmark for his alma mater.

Laurels of garland should adorn the esteemed Senators navel for this distinguishable recognition; salute!

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Now, citizen oversight of congressional spending

The Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense have teamed up to offer EarmarkWatch.org: Bringing Citizen Oversight to Congressional Spending.

Although you need to register, it is a free service. Bills that are currently being legislated are broken down; you can analyze your own U.S. Representative and U.S. Senators usage of earmarks.

Earmarks, or porkbarrel spending, are individual appropriations inserted into a bill after it has been legislated; they often are for local or regional pet projects. Earmarks are a reflection of fiscal discipline; you may now check on your own elected officials promises on how he is controlling spending.

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Thursday, September 20, 2007

Send a message to your Representative and support earmark reform

According to The Hill, House Republican leaders will launch a new offensive in the fight over earmark reform today, seeking to expand earmark disclosure requirements to tax and authorization bills. Currently, only earmarks in appropriations bills are subject to new transparency requirements.

Also know as pork, earmarks are unethically added after a spending bill is already legislated formally. They are often of local interest only, out of the purposes of their underlying bills.

I just sent a small email letter to my U.S. Representative's website asking him to support fiscal discipline and this fight for earmark reform. You can do so also, by finding your own representative with the white widget to the left; just enter your full zip code and look for your U.S. Representative.

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