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 [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Porker, Reform, Victories, Waste | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on April 29, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Tom Schatz discusses the missed opportunities for reform in the Farm Bill with CNBC’s Becky Quick on Squawk Box.
Filed under: Farm Bill, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Reform, Video | No Comments »
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, [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
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
Filed under: Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Reform | 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 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.) [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, Pork, Porker, Reform | No Comments »
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
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
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 [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Budget, Earmarks, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on March 13, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Earmark moratorium vote update from The Politico:
GOP accuses Reid of breaking word on earmark vote
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has accused Democratic leaders of punting a vote on a highly touted earmark moratorium, saying they refused to allow a vote on the proposal while presidential candidates were in the Senate chamber today. Senate Majority Leader Harry [...]
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Posted on March 13, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
More reaction to the article from the post Earmark Moratorium in Washington Post
Earmark Halt Predicted to Fail
And the new management looks reluctant to make any changes. Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) this week said a moratorium was “unrealistic.”
“Congressionally directed money . . . has been going in this country for 230-some-odd years,” he said.
As we mentioned [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on March 13, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW was featured in this article in the Washington Post regarding the DeMint-McCain earmark moratorium
Earmark Halt Predicted to Fail
…The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, is championing a one-year moratorium on funding for home-state projects known as earmarks. Both Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 12, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
I thought it would be good to highlight and respond to some of the comments by the appropriations cardinals in the Roll Call story mentioned below.
Earmark Vote Divides Both Parties
Republican and Democratic members of the Appropriations Committee denounced the amendment and are pushing their colleagues to reject it. “What happens if we don’t say how [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on March 12, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Sen. DeMint’s earmark moratorium amendment is expected to be voted upon by Friday but political shenanigans abound to keep it off the news radar and make it difficult for the presidential candidates who support the amendment to be around for the vote.
Action Alert! Email your senators: Tell the Senate: Support the DeMint-McCain Amendment!
Find your senator [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 12, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The Hill article mentioned in the previous post Earmark moratorium possible in House also notes that Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) will not be asking for earmarks. Welcome to the club, Rep. Kind!
The cardinals claim they’re being cut out
Meanwhile, Rep. Ron Kind (D-Wis.) announced Tuesday he was joining Democratic Reps. Mark Udall (Colo.) and Henry Waxman (Calif) in [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on March 12, 2008 by Leslie Paige
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) took to the Senate floor just minutes ago and made his case for a full-year, no-exceptions earmark moratorium (link to whole speech)
Here’s a slideshow from Sen. DeMint’s Earmark Moratorium Rally, featuring PigFoot in many slides.
Filed under: Appropriations, Budget, Earmarks, Pork, Reform, Video, Waste | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 12, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The Hill newspaper reports on whispers that House Democrats may declare a moratorium on earmarks. It is a good sign that appropriations cardinals are being left out of the discussion as they are notoriously the worst and most ardent porkers. It’s even better to hear Rep. Moran (who pledged to stuff the Defense bill full [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 11, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Just got back from the Rally for the DeMint-McCain earmark moratorium at the Senate Swamp! Sens. Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn spoke, as well as Reps. Jeff Flake, John Campell, Jeb Hensarling, John Shadegg, Marilyn Musgrave, Paul Broun, and several other watch dog organizations.
Here’s CCAGW’s press release:
CCAGW Rallies for DeMint-McCain Earmark Moratorium
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 10, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Tomorrow CCAGW will participate in a rally in support of the DeMint-McCain earmark moratorium amendment. Here’s a look where key players in the drama stand, according to Roll Call:
Reid Won’t Back Ban on Earmarks
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will not back a moratorium on Congressional earmarks despite growing interest among House and Senate Republicans [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Budget, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 5, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
The Hill newspaper reports that CAGW’s strategy of publicizing the most egregious and blatant examples of pork is working to shame legislators into at least vetting earmarks more thoroughly, if not outright rejecting them.
Earmark requests call for more information
Appropriations lobbyists are struggling with more paperwork, new spending restrictions and earlier deadlines for requests as [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on February 29, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
According to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the entire Alaska delegation will now be posting their earmark requests online.
Murkowski, Young join Stevens in posting earmarks
Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Don Young said Thursday they would join Sen. Ted Stevens in posting appropriation requests on their official Web sites.
“I am joining Sen. Stevens and Congressman Young in [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, In The News, Media Hits, Pork, Porker, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on February 27, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
From the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner:
Ted Stevens to reveal requests for earmarks
Stevens plans to post all of the earmark requests he’s received from state and municipal governments and private organizations for fiscal year 2009, Saunders said. The deadline for submitting earmark requests was Feb. 15.
CAGW responds in a press release to this news here
Filed under: Earmarks, Pork, Reform, State Issues | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 15, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
CAGW is saddened that Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) was not appointed to the Appropriations Committee where he would have been an excellent defender of the people’s money and could have nipped wasteful earmarks in the bud. Now he goes back to challenging earmarks on the House floor where it is more difficult to remove them.
We [...]
Filed under: Appropriations, Earmarks, Media Hits, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on February 14, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), one of two February Porkers of the Month, tries to make amends for his wasteful ways by eschewing earmarks.
Nunes vows to shun earmarks
…Putting no money where his mouth is, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, told visiting Tulare County officials on Thursday that he would only request federal funding for projects Congress has authorized.
Unauthorized [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on February 13, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Great news from The Hill newspaper: Rep. Henry Waxman has joined a growing group of legislators that have pledged to abstain from earmarks this year.
Waxman won’t request earmarks this year
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) joined several House Republicans Tuesday by promising not to request any earmarks in appropriations bills this year.
“We have a problem in [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, Pork, Reform | No Comments »
Posted on February 8, 2008 by Alexa Moutevelis
Bob Novak on why Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) is spooked by the idea of a president who goes after pork.
GOP’s Anti-Pork Nominee
During 35 years in Congress, the soft-spoken, gentlemanly Cochran seldom has uttered a harsh word about anybody. So why did he tell the Boston Globe recently that “the thought of [McCain] being president [...]
Filed under: Earmarks, In The News, Pork, Porker, Reform | No Comments »
