Political Quotes

“Mr. President, a lot like indigestion, the desire for earmarks keeps coming back up. Tomorrow afternoon our colleagues in the House will vote on a provision to overturn the Congressional ban on earmarking. As someone who helped put that ban in place, I believe it is important to explain why it is very much still a necessity. Consider the following: A teapot museum in North Carolina, an indoor rain forest in Iowa, bridges to nowhere in Alaska, a sheep institute in Montana, a Woodstock museum to commemorate the 1969 concert in New York, a $350 million rocket launch site in Mississippi that was mothballed upon completion that has been derided as the ``tower to nowhere,'' and the weather museum in Punxsutawney, PA. These are just some of the more infamous pork projects that were tucked into bills in Congress here during the bygone earmark era. During the heyday of earmarking in 2006, I believe there were some 16,000 earmarks spread around among the appropriations bills at that time. Members of Congress gleefully touted the outrageous manner in which billions of dollars were being misspent on obscure, parochial projects. Earmarks were the currency of what was dubbed the ``favor factory'' by a superlobbyist who would eventually go to jail for corruption. Earmarks were used to reward campaign donors and political supporters and to buy and sell the votes of politicians.…”