Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today applauded the Bush Administration for closing the door to hidden earmark requests. Yesterday, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Rob Portman released a memorandum as guidance for the obligation of funds for fiscal year 2007 under H. J. Res. 20.

“We congratulate the administration for its directive and Congress for curtailing earmarks,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “It is important to encourage more transparency and ensure that funding will be based on authorizing law and statutory criteria such as merit-based decision making, eligibility standards, competitive bidding, and funding formulas.” 

The OMB memo states that “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, or other written or oral communications regarding earmarks.” 

“We look forward to working with Congress and the administration to make earmark reform permanent and not just a temporary fix for the current fiscal year.  Taxpayers need to be assured that their money is being spent wisely and without favoritism,” Schatz continued.

Section 112 of H. J. Res. 20 states what was already known, and reaffirmed recently by the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, that congressional directives appearing in reports that accompany legislation do not have the force of law.  Even before the ink dried on H. J. Res. 20, lawmakers were attempting to circumvent the prohibition against earmarks that are not in the bill itself by privately calling agencies with their requests for pet projects.  The OMB memo closes the door on such shenanigans by clarifying that agencies should ignore any such communications to fund earmarks in fiscal year 2007. 

“In order to certify that agencies are not funding earmarks in committee reports or in another non-statutory manner, federal agencies should be required to report to Congress and OMB, every 60 days through the end of the fiscal year, requests they receive for earmarks and those that have been funded,” concluded Schatz.

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