This New Year, Let's Resolve to Kick an Old Habit
January 3, 2008
by: Claire McCaskill U. S. Senator (D-Missouri)

Government WasteWatch, Winter, 2008

Amid all the joys of the holiday season, there’s always that nagging feeling that soon, with the arrival of the new year, we’ll have to turn a new leaf, break those bad habits and finally stop ignoring the unhealthy practices that have somehow become routine in our daily lives.

At this time of year, that extra piece of pie or glass of eggnog leaves us feeling weighted down come January 1. So, after a month of ignoring our better judgment in order to enjoy our favorite holiday treats, many of us resolve to do better.

In recent years, billions of federal dollars went to fund local pet-projects at the request of members of Congress. The result: federal spending that becomes more bloated than ever before and the problem just seems to get bigger and bigger each year.

As we look to 2008, it’s clear there are plenty of problems Congress should resolve to address, but fighting waste in government spending remains at the top of my list.

Fiscal responsibility has become a slogan in politics that is all too rarely backed up by Congressional action. In the end, everybody still wants a piece of the pie to take home to their district.

It’s clear that Congress needs to go on a diet by making a serious adjustment in the way we approach federal spending.

We shouldn’t be afraid to invest in our local communities and the future of our country, but Congress needs to do it in a way that ensures that federal funds aren’t distributed based on who you know, but rather based on the merit of a project.

The appropriations process is far from perfect, but continuing to increase transparency of earmarked projects, while also ensuring that they are not added without an opportunity for floor debate, would go a long way toward protecting Americans from using federal tax dollars to pay for unnecessary projects.

Improved transparency will serve as an automatic cleaning mechanism because the public, and the media, will have an opportunity to scrutinize the projects. And if a project isn’t worthy of public scrutiny, it’s not worthy of being funded by public tax dollars.

But unfortunately, elements of the current process remain infused with secrecy. Our system still allows billions to be added without inspection.

Earlier this year, I was disappointed to learn that we still do not require the projects requested by individual members be disclosed during the committee mark-up process. I had the opportunity to change this when the Senate Armed Services Committee was working on the bill authorizing spending for the enormous Department of Defense. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and I offered an amendment that required the names of sponsors and the location of the project to be made public so that at the very least, transparency can diminish the chances of serious abuse of federal dollars.

Unfortunately, my amendment is just a one-time solution to a much bigger problem. With the ethics reform legislation, we are making big strides towards cleaning up Washington, but we need to be mindful that it isn’t a perfect fix and that there is always room for improvement when it comes to creating a government that is open and accountable to its citizens.

The truth is, we won’t make much serious progress in fighting wasteful spending until we force Congress to go on a serious diet and resolves to change its bad habits. The health and well-being of our nation are at stake.