Omnibusting: Omnibus Spending Bill, Earmarks, Pork and Budget Gimmicks

President Bush’s focus has shifted to an economic stimulus package, but that hasn’t discouraged fiscal conservatives from pursuing an executive order canceling lawmakers’ earmarks. A coalition of 24 groups signed a letter to Bush today asking him to bring an end to the “earmark era.”

January 18, 2008

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear. Mr. President:

On behalf of the millions of grassroots Americans we represent, we write to ask you to protect taxpayers by issuing an Executive Order that instructs all Federal agencies to ignore non-legislative earmarks tucked into committee reports and statements of managers. Now is the time to take back the appropriations process for the American people. Just as many families make decisions to cut wasteful spending when needed, the federal government must also set priorities and cut spending when necessary.

A December 18 analysis by the Congressional Research Service concluded that it is clearly within your legal authority to eliminate all earmarks that appear in committee reports or manager’s statements. By eliminating the over 9,000 earmarks included in the report language of the FY08 Omnibus spending bill, you will send a clear message to Congress that wasteful, secretive spending of taxpayer dollars will not be tolerated.

This situation requires strong action from the President, not transparent political ploys that fail to get the job done. For example, a rescissions package, in which the President submits a list of already-passed provisions for cancellation, would be the equivalent of doing nothing because it requires action from the very same Congress that passed the wasteful earmarks. Similarly, an Executive Order covering only “air-dropped” earmarks, those not appearing in either the House or Senate version of a bill and added in conference, would be a weak answer to a serious problem. The omnibus appropriations bill contained only 300 air-dropped projects and such an order would provide little disincentive for future earmarks.

We urge you to listen to the voice of millions of citizens across the country who resent wasteful earmarking. You have the authority and opportunity to put Congress back on the path to fiscal responsibility. We hope you will seize this opportunity and protect the American taxpayer from further abuse by ending the earmark era. Thank you for your leadership on this issue.

Sincerely,

American Civil Rights Union
American Conservative Union
American Family Association
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for the Preservation of Liberty
Americans for Tax Reform
American Values
Citizens against Government Waste
Council for America
Catholic Vote.org
Coalitions for America
Concerned Women for America
Eagle Forum
English First
Evergreen Freedom Foundation
Family Research Council
Let Freedom Ring
National Center for Public Policy Research
National Taxpayers Union
Porkbusters.org
Rightmarch.com
Taxpayers for Common Sense
U.S. Business and Industry Council
60 Plus Association

If you’re on Facebook, please join the new group created by Phil Kerpen called Cancel Earmarks by Executive Order. There are already 200 people signed up as members.

With pressure mounting on President Bush to issue an executive order canceling lawmakers’ earmarks, Citizens Against Government Waste threw its weight behind the idea in a letter to Office of Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle today.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) was pleased to hear President Bush state in his December 29 radio address that he is disappointed that Congress sent him “a massive spending bill that includes about 9,800 earmarks.” He is correct when he said, “Earmarks are special interest items that are slipped into big spending bills … often at the last hour, without discussion or debate.” Furthermore, we were heartened to hear that the Administration is “reviewing options to address wasteful earmark spending.”

The best option to address the wasteful spending is for the President to issue an Executive Order instructing federal agencies to ignore the more than 9,000-plus earmarks found in the fiscal 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act and 2,000-plus earmarks found in the Defense Appropriations Act.

As you know, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) asked the Congressional Research Service (CRS) for a legal analysis of the President’s authority to issue an Executive Order that would instruct federal agency officials to ignore congressional earmarks contained in committee report language and whether earmarks contained only in committee report language are legally binding on federal agencies. In its reply to Sen. DeMint (enclosed), the CRS stated that based on their review of the “relevant constitutional provisions, statutes, and applicable case law it appears that the President possesses the necessary legal and constitutional authority to issue such an executive order,” and that “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.”

Again echoing the President’s call to Congress to “restrain spending, keep taxes low, and continue on a path towards a balanced budget” and ensure the money taxpayers “send to Washington is spent wisely – or not at all,” I urge President Bush and your office to issue an Executive Order directing federal agencies to ignore earmarks. Such an action would be controversial and no doubt many members of Congress would be upset that their pork-barrel spending would be halted. However, stopping earmark spending would go a long way in restoring fiscal order to Washington. Instead of wasting precious time and tax dollars to provide funds to construct a gas station in Wilberforce, Ohio; build an organized crime museum in Las Vegas, Nevada; and support the First Tee golf program, such an Executive Order would help Congress to focus on more important federal issues, such as saving Medicare from bankruptcy.

Conservative groups and bloggers are growing increasingly vocal about their desire for President Bush to issue an executive order canceling lawmakers’ earmarks in the omnibus spending bill. There is already widespread support for the idea among fiscal conservatives.

Today several groups called attention to the idea. Dick Armey, president of FreedomWorks, issued an action alert that asked his organization’s members to contact the White House. The letter reads in part:

I am writing to ask you to issue an executive order directing federal departments and agencies not to spend any tax dollars that aren’t explicitly appropriated in the text of the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Spending Bill. If you are serious about stopping the plague of earmarks, using this power would be a great way to show Congress they can’t waste our tax dollars.

Gary Bauer, president of American Values, used his daily e-mail to supporters to call attention to the issue.

With each passing day, we learn more discouraging news about items tucked into the massive $550 billion “omnibus” spending bill Congress recently passed. One of the items that caught our attention was the inclusion of legislative language that allows the District of Columbia to spend taxpayer dollars on needle exchange programs. …

Here’s another example of misplaced spending priorities: During the Senate debate on the omnibus spending bill, Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) tried to offer an amendment that would have redirected all earmarked spending to improving deficient roads and bridges, like the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis.

The Coburn amendment was denied even a vote due to an objection from Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). But in future years, visitors to Las Vegas will be able to stop by the new post office museum, thanks to a $200,000 earmark requested by Senator Reid and paid for by you.

Meanwhile, the issue is also gaining steam in the blogosphere. Ed Morrissey of Captain’s Quarters cited sources on Capitol Hill who noted that appropriators are leaning heavily on President Bush to back down from an executive order.

The EO advocates need to remind Bush that only through dramatic action can the GOP reclaim any momentum on fiscal responsibility. A rescission package would only play into the hands of the same people who larded up the spending bill while delivering it three months late.

RedState has also joined the fight.

President Bush used his weekly radio address to once again criticize Congress for including nearly 10,000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill.

I’m disappointed that leaders in Congress sent me a massive spending bill that includes about 9,800 earmarks. Earmarks are special interest items that are slipped into big spending bills like this one — often at the last hour, without discussion or debate. Among the earmarks Congress approved was one for a prison museum and another for a sailing school. In the last election, congressional leaders ran on a promise that they would reform earmarks. They made some progress, but not nearly enough. So my Administration is reviewing options to address wasteful earmark spending.

The fact that Bush is still talking about doing something to end earmarks is a good sign, but this fight is far from over.

President Bush’s suggestion that he would explore ways to stop wasteful earmarks in the $555-billion omnibus spending bill has been meet with praise from conservatives. Here’s just a sampling what’s being said about the idea of an executive order halting earmarks.

Weekly Standard Executive Editor Fred Barnes:

President Bush will take on congressional earmarks — you know, that wasteful special spending that members of Congress stuff in the budget. And here’s what he can do. He can nullify thousands of them because they’re not technically a part of the budget. They’re separate from it. He’s going to do it.

Washington Examiner:

It appears President Bush has a legal tool at his disposal that could be quickly employed to eliminate most congressional earmarks with the stroke of a pen, and it comes to him courtesy of the Congressional Research Service (CRS). The never-before-used tool is a presidential executive order directing federal departments and agencies not to spend any tax dollars that aren’t explicitly appropriated in the text of a bill… The monstrous spending bill was more than 3,500 pages long, counting its associated reports, with nearly 700 of those pages being lists of 9,400-plus earmarks. Together with the earmarks included in a defense bill approved earlier in the year, the first session of the 110th Congress approved more than 11,000 earmarks, the second-highest annual total in recent years.

Wall Street Journal:

Our suggestion is that Mr. Bush instruct his cabinet not to spend money on earmarks that aren’t specifically mentioned in the language of the spending bill. Most are listed in accompanying Appropriations Committee reports that lack the force of law. The point of this Congressional ruse, in part, is to let Members “air-drop” earmarks at the last minute and thus escape scrutiny by other Members who might try to expose their “Bridges to Nowhere” on the House or Senate floor. Mr. Bush assailed this habit in this year’s State of the Union address, and the Members cheered. So why not force Congress to live up to its applause?

Americans for Prosperity Policy Director Phil Kerpen:

Back in 1987, Reagan’s budget director, Jim Miller (who is on my organization’s board of directors), devised a simple solution to the earmark problem: uphold the U. S. Constitution… Miller instructed executive agencies to comply with the law, the actual legislative language, but to disregard the earmarks in the accompanying reports and to instead spend funds on their priorities based on project merit and the president’s own priorities. Capitol Hill erupted in protest, threatening all sorts of retaliation if their pork wasn’t protected… President Bush is extraordinarily well-situated to complete what Reagan started, and put an end to report language earmarks… Mr. President, all I want for Christmas is an executive order de-funding earmarks. Please?

Larry Kudlow:

In the most dramatic statement of his holiday news conference, Mr. Bush said he will not stand for the continuing congressional proliferation of pork-barrel earmarks… This is huge. The statute of limitations for Republican overspending, over-earmarking, and over-corrupting that caused huge congressional losses in last year’s campaign will not run out until the GOP shows taxpayers that it again can be trusted on the key issues of limited government and lower taxes. In these matters, Republicans must be holier than the pope.

Denver Post:

Similar conflicts of interest and unseemly handouts can be averted by curbing pork-barrel projects. Yet citizens are left to wonder why no steps been taken to restrain this obvious abuse of power. Evidently, there is bipartisan agreement when it comes to pork: more is better. The president, who has a well-earned reputation for out-of-control spending himself, has claimed he will investigate ways to deal with earmarks. We hope he does. As it stands now, the only winners are politicians and their special interests. The loser, as always, is the average taxpayer.

Dan Thomasson of Scripps Howard News Service:

Congress, that irrepressible spending machine that is held in lower public esteem than even the current war-strapped president, has been busy stuffing constituent Christmas stockings full of goodies and if you happen to be one of the lucky ones, the coming year should be a good one. That is if George W. Bush doesn’t issue an order to his troops to ignore most of the outlandish projects tacked on to the $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill just passed and the $459 billion defense appropriations measure adopted last month. Could he do that? Probably. Should he do that? He most definitely should.

Syndicated Columnist George Will:

Hell bent on driving its approval rating into single digits, Congress adjourned after passing an omnibus spending bill larded with at least 8,993 earmarks costing at least $7.4 billion — the precise number and amount will be unclear until implications of some obscure provisions are deciphered. The gusher of earmarks was a triumph of bipartisanship, which often is a synonym for kleptocracy.

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