Posted on May 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CCAGW Statement Submitted for the Record before the House Armed Services Committee
Committee Mark-Up of H.R. 5658, The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009
May 14, 2008
According to the May 2 Congressional Quarterly, some members of the House Armed Services Committee are considering challenging the Air Force’s $35 billion contract award to Northrop Grumman for its [...]
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Posted on May 13, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The Hill newspaper reports that the infamous $23 million NDIC earmark, over which 2007 Porker of the Year winner John Murtha threw a temper tantrum and threatened a colleague last year, was removed from this year’s intelligence bill:
Dems, GOP together nix Murtha earmark
Democrats and Republicans joined together to strip a pet project of Rep. John [...]
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Posted on May 9, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
It’s that time of the year again - time to load up the “Emergency” War Supplemental. The hijinx are in full swing with billions of dollars being diverted from a bill that is supposed to go to the troops in the battlefield:
Roll Call: Supplemental Roils Congress
Despite pressure from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Speaker [...]
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Posted on May 8, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The Washington Post published an article today about the exposion of earmarks in DC:
D.C. Earmarks
WHEN IT COMES to earmarks, the District of Columbia is making up for lost time. Just five years ago, these questionable appropriations of public funds didn’t occur in the city. Now they are routine. In the past four years, an estimated [...]
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Posted on May 6, 2008 by Leslie Paige
Jeff Birnbaum of the Washington Post has gotten to the bottom of the mysterious 6-page pro-earmark memorandum that was the subject of his column on April 29, 2008.
The author was none other than a lobbyist for a big earmark-seeking firm here in town, W. Roger Gwinn from The Ferguson Group. Jeff writes:
The six-page document, which has [...]
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Posted on April 30, 2008 by Leslie Paige
OK, only in a policy-wonk hell like Washington, D.C. could a “White Paper” on earmarks be considered a “hot” item. But that is exactly how Washington Post veteran reporter Jeff Birnbaum described reactions to this 6-page “research” paper which is supposedly making its way around Capitol Hill.
Well, not everyone on the Hill got it, I guess, since this [...]
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Posted on April 25, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Wastewatcher, April 2008
Coconut Road Outrage
by Leslie K. Paige
An update on the ongoing drama associated with what Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has dubbed “the immaculate earmark.”
Fill’er Up with Politics
by Elizabeth Wright
The Air Force refueling tanker saga started with a provision added to the fiscal 2002 Defense Appropriations Act directing the Air Force to lease 100 [...]
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Posted on April 21, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CBS Evening News’ Sharyl Attkisson reports on an earmark for the wealthy Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.
This project is listed in the 2008 Congressional Pig Book:
$1,648,850 for the Shedd Aquarium by Senate appropriator Richard Durbin (D-Ill), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), House appropriator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.). The aquarium’s website says the facility [...]
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Posted on April 18, 2008 by Leslie Paige
Today’s Washington Post relates yesterday’s developments on the investigation into the $10 million Coconut Road earmark. After the Senate rejected Sen. Coburn’s amendment to convene a bicameral panel to get to the bottom of the mystery of how this earmark morphed from a general purpose earmark to widen I-75 in Florida into what could potentially be a political pay-off to a campaign contributor of Rep. [...]
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Posted on April 17, 2008 by Leslie Paige
So says Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)! And she’s right. Why, then, doesn’t she want the Senate to uncover the truth about who that person might be?
Not surprisingly, the subject is congressional earmarking and the corruptive habits earmarking engenders in Washington’s political class.
The 2008 technical corrections bill to the 2005 Transportation Authorization bill is currently bogged down in the Senate because one [...]
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Posted on April 10, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
King of Pork Sen. Robert C. Byrd had some choice words for CAGW in response to the 2008 Pig Book.
W.Va. Again Ranks High on Federal ‘Pork’ List
“This annual report, done by Washington insiders, is pure hogwash,” he stated. “An earmark may be pork to some political chatter box on television, but to many communities in [...]
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Posted on April 9, 2008 by Leslie Paige
because that wouldn’t be fair. It’s just that his list of earmark requests for fiscal year 2009 happens to be among the first to begin trickling out to the public.
It won’t be long until he is joined by a legion of other pork-barrel spenders and we’ll try to keep you abreast of the tsunami of requests that continue to roll into the committees. [...]
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Posted on April 3, 2008 by Martin Rundle
This morning we have a double cut of pork for you with our friends Sen. Jim DeMint and Rep. Jeff Flake discussing earmarks on Fox News. Video links below.
Pig Book on Fox News with Sen. DeMint
Pig Book on Fox News with Rep. Flake
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Posted on March 31, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Last week, John Stanton from Roll Call had a great article on how a top aide to Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) is using his position to secure earmarks and funding to a town in which he is also an elected local official - which is against House rules.
Illinois Aide Claims Earmarks Credit($)
A top aide to Rep. [...]
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Posted on March 28, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) discuss the legality of earmarks under the Constitution. Two guesses as to who’s right and the first one doesn’t count.
Most earmarks are only written into the conference reports of appropriations bills - not the actual laws that are voted on by members of Congress. As Sen. DeMint [...]
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Posted on March 28, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Virginia Pork for Crabs and Sheep
The 2009 federal budget will include funding for some strange animals if one Virginia lawmaker has his way.
Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat from southwest Virginia, has requested $744,325 to study the horseshoe crab and $250,000 for hair sheep - a unique bread of short-haired sheep that does not require shearing.
Both [...]
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Posted on March 27, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Possible shady dealings for an earmark in Massachusetts, from the Boston Herald:
He dries (with a little help from his friend)
$1M earmark boon to ex-rep’s home
U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt has pushed through $1.1 million in federal earmarks for a controversial Cohasset pond clean-up meant to stop flooding in a pricey waterfront neighborhood where his former congressman pal [...]
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Posted on March 26, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
From the Houston Chronicle:
Amid re-election bid, McCaul vows to drop earmarks
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, apparently facing a stiff challenge for re-election in November, said Monday that he would no longer request controversial spending projects known as earmarks.
McCaul’s well-financed opponent, Democrat Larry Joe Doherty, questioned the sincerity of the congressman’s reversal but said he, too, would [...]
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Posted on March 24, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
More members of Congress agree to a personal one-year earmark moratorium.
Deal, other Ga. Republicans join anti-earmark crusade
More than half of Georgia’s Republicans in the U.S. House have joined an anti-earmark crusade and pledged to give up pet spending requests for their districts.
They say quitting cold turkey will help shake up a free-spending culture in Washington, [...]
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Posted on March 21, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Watch Media Director Leslie K. Paige discuss the failure of the earmark moratorium in the Senate:
Watch Part 1
Then see Part 2
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Posted on March 20, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
March
Rhetorical Flim-Flam
By Alexa Moutevelis=In the wake of the March 13 vote on a one-year moratorium on congressional earmarks, it is time for a post-mortem on who said what in the heat of the battle.
Corn Ethanol is Not a Panacea
By Elizabeth Wright
All is not rosy with corn ethanol and other biofuels, according to a February 7 [...]
Filed under: Budget, Earmarks, Pork, Waste, Wastewatcher | No Comments »
Posted on March 19, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
As of today 11 congressional candidates have signed CCAGW’s Earmark Reform Pledge.
Click here to see the pledge and who has signed.
Ten current members of congress have signed the pledge - encourage yours to sign it!
See who in Congress has signed.
Filed under: Earmarks, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on March 18, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Congress is out on Easter recess for two weeks, so things are a little slow here in DC.
Here are two R.J. Matson cartoons on earmarks that appeared in Roll Call in the last week:
LUCKY LEPRECHAUNGRESSMAN
ETHICS OFFICE EARMARK
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Posted on March 18, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW posted on The Hill’s Congress Blog regarding the March Porkers of the Month. Check it out.
Update: The link has been fixed.
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Posted on March 17, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Carper, Biden agree to disclose earmark requests earlier
Sens. Joe Biden and Tom Carper said Friday they will disclose all of their requests for special funding projects known as earmarks, marking a shift in policy for both senators and a move toward greater transparency in the budget process.
…Republican Rep. Mike Castle announced his intention in November [...]
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Posted on March 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW Names Senators Who Voted to Kill DeMint-McCain Earmark Moratorium Porkers of the Month
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named all 71 senators who voted against an amendment to impose a one-year earmark moratorium in the fiscal year 2009 Budget Resolution March Porkers of the Month. The amendment was offered by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) [...]
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Posted on March 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Earmarks Become Presidential Battleground
Last summer, Barack Obama released a lengthy list of all the earmarks he had asked for in the fiscal 2008 spending bills. The Democratic presidential candidate had made open government one of his campaign themes, and he wanted to show he was true to his word.
There was just one problem: The Illinois senator [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
McCain Touts Earmark Opposition on Hill
Sen. John McCain returned to Capitol Hill to cast a vote against pork-barrel spending, a centerpiece of the presumptive Republican nominee’s economic agenda and part of his broader campaign on government reform.
The amendment, which failed on a procedural vote late last night, was introduced by Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) [...]
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Posted on March 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
In the wake of the earmark moratorium amendment in the Senate failing, at least 2 Representatives announced a voluntary one-year personal moratorium.
Pence Announces One-Year Moratorium on Earmark Requests
Reichert Announces Voluntary Earmark Moratorium
Update:
Reichert, McMorris Rodgers back earmark break
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Posted on March 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
In a disappointing 29-71 loss, the DeMint-McCain earmark moratorium amendment to the FY 09 Budget failed last night.
Sen. DeMint made the following comments in a press release following the vote:
“Tonight, too many in Congress embraced the earmark favor factory and proved why we have the lowest approval rating in history,” said Senator DeMint. “Earmarks represent [...]
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