Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) and five other taxpayer groups encouraged Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to eliminate earmarks from the annual Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. 

Roll Call (10/24/06) reported that the Senate Labor/HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman is weighing the pros and cons of an earmark-free bill.  A similar ban helped reduce the final number of pork projects to 51 in fiscal 2006, but in fiscal 2007 the number has exploded into the thousands. 

CCAGW, along with the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, the National Taxpayers Union, and Taxpayers for Common Sense, sent a letter to Sen. Specter, excerpts of which follow:

A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found earlier this year that a 39 percent plurality of Americans believe that the single most important thing Congress can do is to curtail earmarks that only benefit certain constituents.  Taxpayers understand that pork-barrel spending is out of control.  These projects contribute to the deficit, create few winners but lots of losers, leave the decision of how to distribute large amounts of federal dollars in the hands of a few, and invite corruption.  Federal dollars are too often used for political influence instead of the public good.

It is time for Congress to get a handle on wasteful, frivolous spending and halting the earmark process is a good place to start.  While we realize this policy probably could not be implemented until next year, at a minimum, Congress should require that all members identify all the earmarks they have secured this year.  Again, we urge you to set an example for your colleagues on the Appropriations Committee by eliminating earmarks in the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies bill.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.