Red State - The President has not issued his executive order on earmarks, and it appears he won’t.
Club for Growth - If this is true, what a disappointment.
National Taxpayers Union - If the President misses this opportunity, it would be a heck of a shame.
Citizens Against Government Waste - If President Bush ignores the big spenders and issues the executive order, it will prove to taxpayers that at least some in Washington have gotten the message about wasteful spending.
Categories: General Outrage · Pork Projects
“Congress Spent $29 Billion On Earmarks Last Year Alone. Earmarks Are The Broken Windows Of The Federal Budget, Signs Of Dysfunction And Distress. … The American People Want Us To End Earmarks Once And For All.” (Rudy Giuliani, Op-Ed, The Meaning Of Fiscal Conservatism, The Wall Street Journal, 12/3/07)
http://www.joinrudy2008.com/blog/view/593
Mike Huckabee
When asked if he would issue an executive order as president, Mike Huckabee put it this way: “I think some of them ought to be vetoed. If they can’t be vetoed, then ignore them.” Huckabee also vowed to increase transparency.
http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed123107a.cfm
John McCain
I’ll stop wasteful spending by Congress. And restore American’s trust in their Government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVynnfY-UZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXTRuG9QwzM&feature=related
Mitt Romney
As President, I pledge to use every available method to eliminate wasteful earmarks in the federal budget.
http://www.mittromney.com/News/Press-Releases/Earmarks_Omnibus
Categories: General Outrage
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DC Examiner (December 31, 2007) - For Bush, the choice is whether to issue an executive order directing federal departments and agencies to ignore earmarks that aren’t explicitly included in the legislative text of the recently approved $515 billion omnibus spending bill.
. . .
Bush has considered such an order for a week. This is no time for timidity. Signing such an executive order tomorrow would make a fine New Year’s Day present for American taxpayers. Finally, somebody in Washington would be acting decisively to end the waste and corruption of congressmen freely handing out millions of tax dollars to campaign donors, relatives and former staff members, and special interest allies.
Chicago Tribune (December 31, 2007) - The Democrats took control of Congress with a promise to put an end to earmarking, the clever way in which lawmakers shower your money on their citizens. President Bush got in the game: He vowed to cut the number of earmarks in half. So, how to explain the 9,800 earmarks — worth more than $10 billion — stuffed into the $555 billion omnibus spending bill that Bush signed as he flew home to Texas Wednesday for a holiday break?
. . .
Bush complained about Congress loading up on earmarks — then he signed the spending bill. He still has some options to force Washington into rehab.
Washington Times (December 31, 2007) - It’s time for the White House to take the gloves off and get tougher with lawmakers who won’t take no for an answer.
Waterbury (CT) Republican-American (December 30, 2007) - Specifically, it seems the president has constitutional authority to make the recent congressional pork-fest disappear.
. . .
The opportunity is upon him. Here’s hoping he doesn’t waste it.
Categories: General Outrage · Pork Projects
To some in Washington, $20 billion over budget may not sound like much. Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both recently dismissed a larger amount, $23 billion, as a “small difference” with the president. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) shrugged it off as “table scraps.” But $20 billion is real money to taxpayers. To reach that amount would take every federal income tax dollar paid in 2005 by residents of North Dakota, Vermont, Wyoming, South Dakota, Montana, Alaska, Delaware and Maine combined. Click on the chart below to download the PDF.
Categories: General Outrage
A coalition of government watchdogs wrote to President Bush today asking him to issue an executive order directing all federal agencies to ignore non-legislative earmarks.
Mr. President:
This past week, Congress passed an omnibus spending bill that will soon be presented for your signature. While it is consistent with the total budget targets your administration has set, the 3,417 pages of the bill and associated reports are bloated by more than 9,000 earmarks which were subjected to little or no review during the scant 24 hours between the publishing of the bill text and the House voting to pass it. When combined with the more than 2,000 earmarks in the Defense Appropriations Bill this Congress has churned out over 11,000 earmarks this year. The vast majority of these earmarks do not even appear in the legislative text, but rather are buried in the committee reports that accompany the bill, further removing them from proper review and scrutiny. While the total number of earmarks is down compared to record highs and there is increased transparency, there are still far too many to be effectively vetted.
The rushed way in which Congress passed the omnibus — one of the largest pieces of legislation ever considered — made a mockery of our legislative process, and Congress itself bears the responsibility and shame for that. But you have the power to send a message both to Congress and the American people that the waste and corrupting influence of earmarks will not be tolerated. A December 18 legal analysis by the Congressional Research Service concluded that “because the language of committee reports do not meet the procedural requirements of Article I of the Constitution — specifically, bicameralism and presentment — they are not laws and, therefore, are not legally binding on executive agencies. … Given both the implied legal and constitutional authority as well as the long-standing accepted process of Presidents, it appears that a President can, if he so chooses, issue an executive order with respect to earmarks contained solely in committee reports and not in any way incorporated into the legislative text.”
On December 20, you stated that you were “instructing the budget director to review options for dealing with the wasteful spending in the omnibus bill.” We applaud you for this leadership, and ask that you follow through by issuing an executive order formally directing all Federal agencies to ignore non-legislative earmarks tucked into committee reports and statements of managers. Such an action is within your Constitutional powers, and would strike a blow for fiscal responsibility now while setting a valuable precedent for the future.
Tell Congress and the American public that the era of earmarks is over, and that the Congressional “favor factory” which mints earmarks is closed. The American taxpayer will applaud such an action, as will the many honest legislators in Congress who are trying to fight the broken and corrupt appropriations machine. We hope that you embrace this opportunity, and thank you for your leadership on this issue.
Sincerely,
American Conservative Union
American Values
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Tax Reform
Calvert Institute for Policy Research
Citizens Against Government Waste
Club for Growth
Commonwealth Foundation
Eagle Forum
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
Family Research Council
Freedom Works
Illinois Policy Institute
Larry Kudlow, Kudlow & Company, LLC
The National Tax Limitation Committee
National Taxpayers Union
Porkbusters.org
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Hat Tip: Porkbusters.org
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: bush, earmarks, executive order, omnibus, pork, porkbusters
According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, here are the top House and Senate earmarkers:
HOUSE:
John Murtha, D-Pa., $161.9 million.
C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla., $161.1 million.
Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., $136.8 million.
SENATE:
Thad Cochran, R-Miss., $773.6 million.
Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, $501.9 million.
Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., $429.5 million.
Categories: General Outrage · Pork Projects
President Bush used yesterday’s press conference to respond to the nearly 10,000 earmarks in the Omnibus. According to this report in the Washington Examiner:
“Bush used a year-end news conference to scold lawmakers for stuffing 9,800 special-interest projects into a $550 billion spending measure. He directed his budget director to explore how to erase what Bush considers wasteful spending.”
And, from The Washington Post:
Bush said he asked Jim Nussle, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to draft possible actions to take, but he would not elaborate. One option, aides said, would be to ignore the vast majority of earmarks that are included only in conference reports rather than in the appropriations bill itself. Although traditionally honored, language in such reports is not legally binding.
“There’s always been an opportunity for the president to issue an executive order essentially canceling most of the earmarks,” said Brian M. Riedl, a Heritage Foundation scholar who issued a memo outlining ways to do so. “Generally, it’s been perceived as a declaration of nuclear war for the president not to spend congressional earmarks. But with more than 11,000 of them, it seems like the president might consider it time.”
Categories: General Outrage
The omnibus includes an earmark proposed by Senator Feinstein that will prevent the Veterans Administration from leasing or selling a portion of excess land at the 388-acre West Los Angeles VA Medical Center. The VA’s CARES process recommended that a portion of the land be leased or sold to generate over $4 billion of revenue, which would be used to improve facilities around the country for our Nation’s veterans.
A recent report calls attention to the fact that this $4 billion could have been used to provide additional medical care for America’s veterans. However, this land is also surrounded by the Beverly Hills estates of wealthy individuals, including Sylvester Stallone, Tom Cruise, Tim McGraw, and Barry Bonds. Reportedly, when locals complained that, among other things, this development would impede the views from their mansions, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) inserted a provision to cancel the land sale. The Senate voted 66-25 to side with the Beverly Hills millionaires.
Categories: General Outrage
A Wall Street Journal editorial today calls attention to the fact that the President still has the opportunity to help clean up earmarks in this year’s Omnibus Appropriations Bill. The article points out:
“That bill contains 8,993 special-interest earmarks, but most of them aren’t even in the language of the law itself. Instead, they are part of an accompanying 500-page “committee report” compiled by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees and staff.”
“Mr. Bush has said he’ll sign the actual spending bill, but that doesn’t mean he and his executive branch must spend that money on the earmarks in the committee report. A December 18 legal analysis by attorney Todd Tatelman for the Congressional Research Service concludes that “because the language of committee reports do not meet the procedural requirements of Article I of the Constitution — specifically, bicameralism and presentment — they are not laws and, therefore, are not legally binding on executive agencies.” In plainer English, this means committee reports have not been formally passed by both houses and “presented” to the President for signing.”
“This means Mr. Bush has the legal authority not to fund these projects, which lack the force of law. Mr. Bush’s own budget office has asserted this authority before. Earlier this year, then budget director Rob Portman instructed federal agencies that they could disregard committee report language on earmarks. “Unless a project or activity is specifically identified in statutory text, agencies should not obligate funds on the basis of earmarks contained in Congressional reports or documents,” Mr. Portman wrote. That’s why there were fewer earmarks last year.”
Categories: General Outrage
Is 46 hours and 8 minutes enough time to read a 3,417-page bill? Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) thinks it is.
Last night before the Senate voted on the legislation, Durbin criticized Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) for suggesting lawmakers weren’t given enough time to consider the mammoth omnibus spending bill.
For this Senator to suggest on the floor that we are sneaking this bill in, that people have not had a chance to see it, I would just say to the Senator from South Carolina: Welcome to the world of the Internet. This bill has been posted since 12:15 a.m. Monday morning on the Internet for your perusal. That is early to get up, I understand. It is an early time to be reading the bill. But, please, do not come to the floor and suggest that this is a mystery bill which no one has seen. For 2 days, this has been posted on the Internet. You have had your chance. Every Senator has had a chance.
DeMint’s office wondered if that feat was even possible. It is — assuming you read nearly 1¼ pages of the bill every minute for 46 hours and 8 minutes, take no bathroom breaks and don’t eat or sleep.
Here’s the exchange caught on video:
Categories: General Outrage
Sen. Jim DeMint delivered an outstanding speech before last night’s vote on the omnibus. If you didn’t stay up until 10:30 to watch, it’s definitely worth a moment of your time now.
Here’s the first part:
And the second:
Categories: General Outrage
The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl discusses the explosion of earmarks and the budget gimmicks included in the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending bill in a segment on Fox News.
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: congress, gimmicks, omnibus, pork, riedl, spending
The House of Representatives has chosen to use the Omnibus Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2764), adopted on December 17, to eliminate all funding for the Reliable Replace Warhead (RRW) program. The RRW would provide the Navy with a replacement for existing warheads on a portion of its submarine-based nuclear-armed missiles. It is an essential part of meeting the requirements of the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR). A recently released report by national security policy expert Baker Spring highlights the consequences of withholding funding for the RRW program.
Categories: General Outrage
The Senate voted Tuesday night, 76-17, in favor of the largest spending bill in U.S. history, capping a frantic 48 hours. In a separate vote, senators approved $70 billion for U.S. troop in Iraq. The Iraq measure now moves to the House, and then onto President Bush for his signature.
Conservatives expressed disappointment about the measure’s passage. The omnibus does nothing to curb the explosion of earmarks or the flawed budget process, yet an overwhelming number of Republicans and Democrats voted in favor of it. Of those who opposed the bill, three were Democrats and 14 were Republicans. One senator voted “present” and six weren’t on hand to cast a vote.
Several lawmakers offered reactions Tuesday night.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.):
This bill is the culmination of 12 months of procrastination, broken promises and misplaced priorities. Experts looking for an explanation of Congress’ historic low approval ratings should look no further than this bill. The American people are desperate to see change in Washington. Yet, what we have given them is another last minute spending spree with very little debate, discussion, or inspection.
The bill is more than 3,400 pages and I am fairly certain that not a single member of either chamber of Congress, or anyone else for that matter, has read it in its entirety. Sadly, Congress’ desire to recess for the year while securing its pork took precedence over our responsibility to properly manage the nation’s finances and set national spending priorities.
The Democrat omnibus perverts the purpose of our government. It piles debt onto our children so politicians can stuff their stockings with special interest earmarks.
Democrats used gimmicks to increase domestic spending by $24.3 billion dollars for liberal priorities like Planned Parenthood and attorneys for illegal immigrants, while cutting national defense. This is the single largest appropriations bill in history, not a single person read it, and yet we passed it in less than 48-hours.
Shouldn’t we be able to cast an informed vote on one of the largest spending bills ever? H.R. 2764 is a sad testament to Congress’s inability to draft and pass responsible federal funding legislation.
Categories: General Outrage
House Republican Whip Roy Blunt joined Sen. Tom Coburn and Rep. Jeb Hensarling at The Heritage Foundation on Tuesday to address conservative bloggers about the omnibus. Click below to watch video of Blunt’s opening remarks.
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: bloggers, blunt, coburn, congres, earmakrs, hensarling, omnibus, pork, spending
Sen. Jim DeMint’s office has compiled the following top 10 list of reasons to oppose the omnibus.
1. Contains more than 11,000 wasteful pork projects, second highest in history
2. Overspends by $24.3 billion in gimmicks, largest spending bill in history
3. Weakens border security, reduces fencing
4. Cuts national security to pay for liberal social programs
5. Cuts abstinence funding; increases Planned Parenthood funding
6. Cuts labor oversight; increases funding to labor unions
7. Cuts funding for U.S. Marshals Service that enforces sex offender registry
8. Allows government to sue businesses that require English in the workplace
9. Spends millions to help solve energy problems … in North Korea
10. Increases funding for National Endowment for the Arts
Earlier today, Heritage released its own top 10 list of the biggest problems with the bill.
Categories: Budget Gimmicks · General Outrage · Policy Riders · Pork Projects
Tagged: abstinence, arts, border, earmarks, energy, gimmicks, immigration, labor, north korea, omnibus, planned parenthood, pork, sex, spending, top 10
“The Democratic Leadership of the House is cutting in half the number of earmarks in this year’s appropriation bills.”
– House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, March 13, 2007
So much for Pelosi’s pledge. The mammoth $515 billion omnibus spending bill obliterates the Democrats’ promise to slash pork-barrel projects. As the Senate moves toward consideration of the bill, a thorough analysis reveals the omnibus actually increases the number of earmarks to a total of 11,331 — a 426% increase over the number from last year, when there were just 2,658 earmarks last year. The omnibus alone contains at least 9,170 pork projects, comprising 696 pages, or one-fifth, of the bill.
Here are some of the highlights:
• Beverly Hills Veterans Park ($4,000,000,000)
• Rangel Monument to Me ($2,000,000)
• Rodent control in Alaska ($113,000)
• Olive fruit fly research in France ($213,000)
• Hunting and Fishing Museum in Pennsylvania ($200,000)
• Louis Armstrong Museum in New York ($150,000)
• A bike trail in Minnesota ($700,000)
• A river walk in Massachusetts ($1,000,000)
• A post office museum in downtown Las Vegas ($200,000); and
• The Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois ($37,000)
No one knows the exact cost of the earmarks in the mammoth omnibus, but they could easily exceed $18 billion, which nearly matches that $18.9 billion spent on earmarks in FY2005.
In comparison, a continuing resolution would result in 2,161 earmarks, which were already included in the Defense appropriations bill.
Hat Tip: Sen. Jim DeMint
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: continuing resolution, demint, earmarks, omnibus, pork
Our allies at the Family Research Council are pleased that Democrats removed language from the omnibus reversing the Mexico City policy, which prevents U.S. tax dollars from funding overseas groups that perform or promote abortion. Pro-life groups were disappointed, however, by the bill’s increased funding of Planned Parenthood. Here’s how President Tony Perkins put it in his Washington Update today:
The Title X program, which is a prime source of income for abortion organizations, received a $17 million increase — bringing its total funding to just under $300 million. Unlike past years, abstinence education did not receive a similar raise. Instead, abstinence-until-marriage programs are under intense attack. This week in the omnibus, the President’s requirement that 33% of PEPFAR prevention funds go toward the “A” (Abstinence) and “B” (Be Faithful) approach was waived, dealing a severe blow to overseas abstinence efforts. As a result, the U.S. now faces a return to condom-based prevention programs, eroding the progress made in reducing HIV/AIDS rates abroad. Until now, America had been the only major international donor to promote the “A, B” approach in foreign countries.
Where did the money go instead? Perkins speculates that it probably wound up funding an obscure earmark, such as Sen. Hillary Clinton’s “Hippie Museum” or Rep. Charlie Rangel’s near-$2 million “Monument to Me.”
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: abortion, abstinence, clinton, family, planned parenthood, rangel, sex
We’ve pulled together some of the most egregious provisions in the bill and put together this top 10 list. With the Senate planning to vote this evening, time is running out to educate senators about the pork projects, policy riders and budget gimmicks in the bill.
1. Non-emergency, Emergencies Drive Up Spending
More than $11 billion in emergency designated spending has been crammed into this bill, most of which does not qualify as sudden, unforeseen or urgent spending including. For example:
• $100 million in emergency funding for presidential security at political conventions
• $602 million for crop disaster assistance and livestock assistance, in spite of the fact that farmers had record incomes last year.
• $210 million for “salaries and expenses” across various departments
2. A Threat to Border Security
The bill places new restrictions that will delay and in some cases prevent construction of the full border fence. The bill removes specific locations included in the Secure Fence Act and adds extra layers of bureaucracy that will make building a border fence more difficult.
3. Restricts U.S. Energy Sources, Threatening Energy Security
The bill prohibits funding for oil shale commercial regulations which makes commercial production of the United States’ 2 trillion barrels of oil shale resources is impossible. By restricting the supply of domestic oil, this bill increases our dependence on other nations to meet our energy needs.
4. The House Version Does Not Fund the Troops in Iraq
The House provided $31.2 billion for the troops in Afghanistan, but nothing for the troops in Iraq. This ties the hands of Pentagon officials and generals in the field by restricting the battlegrounds where money can be spent and puts troops in harms way.
5. Loaded with Excessive Earmarks
More than 9,000 earmarks — including 300 of which were airdropped— totaling more than $23 billion have been added to the bill. For example:
• The Charles Rangel “Monument to Me” ($1.95 million)
• Rodent control in Alaska ($113,000)
• Olive fruit fly research in France ($213,000)
• Hunting and Fishing Museum in Pennsylvania ($200,000)
• Louis Armstrong Museum in New York ($150,000)
• A bike trail in Minnesota ($700,000)
• A river walk in Massachusetts ($1,000,000)
• A post office museum in downtown Las Vegas ($200,000); and
• The Lincoln Park Zoo in Illinois ($37,000)
6. Funds Corporate Welfare
Advanced Technology Program, was deauthorized by Congress earlier this year, was given $65 million. ATP provides research grants, and 35% of its funding goes to Fortune 500 companies including IMB, 3M, and General Electric.
7. Uses Budget Gimmicks to Obscure Spending
At least $10 billion in gimmicks, such as advanced appropriations and recessions, have been used that artificially lower the cost of the bill.
8. Nobody Has Had Time to Read It
The bill is more than 3,417 pages, which is three times the length of the Bible and nearly the same length as the Second Edition of Webster’s Dictionary. In less than 24 hours, the House passed the bill, but, clearly, no one could have had time to read it.
9. Misplaced Priorities
Funding for security projects such as Nuclear Weapons Modernization ($89 million requested) which helps modernize the nuclear weapons stockpile was cut in order to fund:
• $20 million increase for the National Endowment of the Arts
• $1.5 billion increase for state and foreign operations
• $3.7 million in non-competitive grants that were awarded to the AFL-CIO
• $16 million for a new House office building although the House already has four office building and the Capitol Visitors Center hasn’t been completed
10. Blows Budget Caps
With all the budget gimmicks, “emergency” spending, and other tricks, this bill exceeds the President’s top line by more than $24 billion. The appropriations bills the President threatened to veto were $22 billion above his top line — the omnibus has only made things worse!
Categories: Budget Gimmicks · General Outrage · Policy Riders · Pork Projects
Sec. 433. (page 133) of Division F—Interior SEC. 433. None of the funds made available by this Act shall be used to prepare or publish final regulations regarding a commercial leasing program for oil shale resources on public lands pursuant to section 369(d) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Public Law 109-5 
or to conduct an oil shale lease sale pursuant to subsection 369(e) of such Act.
Without these regulations, commercial production of the United States’ 2 trillion barrels of oil shale resources is impossible.
Categories: General Outrage
Tagged: oil shale, regulation
While superficially providing more money for a bigger fence on America’s border, the omnibus bill actually makes it tougher to build, by creating 15 bureaucratic hurdles that must be overcome before that money is spent.
Page 12 of the Homeland Security portion specifies 15 detailed requirements before the $650-million for fencing can be spent, including that nothing happens until a plan from Homeland Security is received and approved by both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Further, Page 122 of the Homeland Security portion requires yet another new restriction created on the ability to fence the border. The requirement is prior consultation with an array of interest groups, including environmental groups and communities concerned about their “quality of life.” And the consultation does not remove the ability of any groups to sue and try to block the fence.
As if this weren’t enough the bill also attempts to gut the Secure Fence Act.
Categories: General Outrage
In order to hold the omnibus to President Bush’s spending cap of $933 billion — not including budget gimmicks or “emergency” funding, of course — lawmakers made their share of cuts to some programs and boosted spending for others. Here’s a list of the winners and losers.
Lawmakers boosted funding for these programs:
• NEA Increase: $20 million increase for the National Endowment of the Arts
• Foreign Aid Increase: $1.5 billion increase for state and foreign operations
• AFL-CIO Grants: two non-competitive grants for the AFL-CIO totaling $3.7 million
• New Office Building: $16 million to convert the former FDA building for use by the House. In addition to the Capitol, the House already has four office buildings—and is still yet to complete construction on a new Capitol Visitors Center.
These programs will be shortchanged in fiscal 2008:
• BRAC: The President’s Budget Request for BRAC is reduced by $900 million.
• Nuclear Weapons Modernization: Democrats eliminated all funding ($89 million requested) for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) which helps modernize the nuclear weapons stockpile. Absent funding, the performance and reliability of existing weapons may require maintenance of an even larger stockpile in the future.
• IDEA Cuts: The Democrat Omnibus diverts $23 million from IDEA funding to fund a new and untested program for state personnel development.
• Adoption Cuts: Reduced funding for the Adoption Incentives Program from $9.5 million to $4.3 million.
• Farm Service Agencies: Funded at $98 million below the request.
Hat Tip: House Minority Whip Roy Blunt
Categories: General Outrage
According to the Washington Post, federal employees will get an average raise of 3.5 percent next year. This is over the President’s recommended amount of 3 percent. So much for merit based pay raises.
Categories: General Outrage
Heritage Research
