The Stroke of a Veto Pen Would Have Been A Stroke Of Genius on Earmark Reform

(Washington, D.C.) – The nation’s premier taxpayer watchdog group, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), responded favorably to several of the earmark reform initiatives mentioned today by President Obama as he signed the $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill.  The omnibus bill increases overall federal spending for the nine appropriations bills by 8 percent and contains thousands of earmarks.     

“We appreciate hearing the President so concisely laying out some of the best arguments against the corruptive influence of pork-barrel earmarking.  However, it is a bit incoherent to hear him saying this as he signs a bill stuffed with thousands of pork-barrel projects worth tens of billions of dollars being will go entities and companies favored by members of Congress without any review or accountability,” said CAGW Tom Schatz.  “Actions speak louder than words.  President Obama has a golden opportunity on the desk in front of him today to send a message straight to the American people that he was serious about slashing earmarks by vetoing that bill.”

President Obama and his team have claimed that he can sign this bloated omnibus bill in good conscience because the earmarks contained in the bill are “last year’s business.”  That is a specious argument.  The FY 2009 appropriations bills, while primarily crafted in 2008, are for the current year’s spending.   

“President Obama claims that the worst earmarks are those that are parceled out to private companies almost like party favors by members of Congress, while he continues to supports allowing members of Congress to continue to earmark to more worthwhile causes that he claims are in the national interest,” said Schatz.  “Congress has already created a rational system to determine if a spending proposal is in the national interest and it is called authorization and the $3.5 trillion federal budget process, which uses formulas, competitive bidding and merit-based awards.  Using that system for spending taxpayer dollars is not perfect, but it is much more transparent and accountable than allowing members of Congress to run billions through a shadow budget.  If we simply stick to the budget rules Congress itself created, taxpayers will have better accountability to track federal dollars and determine who is spending what.  Make no mistake,” concluded Schatz, “there is no acceptable level of congressional pork-barrel earmarking because it is a corruption of the process.   

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.