Jeff Flake

As I mentioned before, I originally had an amendment that I would have liked to have offered which would simply say that we would add the following: ``Nothing in this act shall relieve a Native Hawaiian governing authority from complying…

Does the gentleman presume to know more about this specific subject and know of a reason why this should remain in effect when the administration is saying that it should be shut down because it is duplicative and wasteful?

I would simply reiterate what we are talking about here. This is a charter school that, although it has been spoken of as serving military families, it has no more of a mission to serve military families, I would suggest, than the school…

Nobody is trying to deny anybody any water, certainly not somebody from Arizona. But the question remains, was this a program of memorandum? Is it on any unfunded requirement list? Does any operator in the field say that we need this…

Nobody here is questioning the need for research. Every industry does it. Every industry has to do it to survive because of competition. What I question here is why the taxpayer is spending $6 million every year on this same earmark for a…

I have noted before I have been beaten like a rented mule here quite a bit. But I must say the majority of Democrats did join me in actually striking an earmark a couple of weeks ago... I would suggest, when you have 410 earmarks in one…

Let me just say, nobody questions the validity or the importance of research. Every industry needs to do it, and do a lot of it. But we have a lot of high-tech industries that are vital to this country. Why aren't we funding a company like…

I should note, with this legislation, in the middle of the night last night we did the equivalent of earmarking on an authorization bill. We, in the middle of the night, designated some 25 hospitals, giving them a different designation…

Let me just say that the direct payments were never intended as a safety net. They were meant to wean farmers off of the dole. If our parents worked as hard as this committee in weaning their children, we would all still be living in our…

Let me simply say that it's often said through earmarking we are simply asserting our right and the responsibility we have as Members of Congress under article 1. Under article 1, we certainly have the power of the purse. The problem is, I…

I actually challenged an earmark that was going largely to my own district. Arizona is just like other States in this regard. I don't object to projects that go through the process. I assume that the Central Arizona Project had a hearing…

I just will close on this one, saying again this is one of many museums that we are funding here. We simply can't fund them all. At some point it would be nice to give the taxpayers a gift and actually say we're not going to fund a…

Here is just another example, and maybe the sponsor of the earmark can enlighten us, but as to what makes this different, what makes this deserving of Federal funds? Why are we helping to set up a local revolving loan fund for local…

The truth is we went from about, as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee often points out, from zero earmarks in Labor-HHS to some 1,400 last week. Much of that was under my party. I think Democrats are as much to blame probably as…

To end this debate tonight on these earmarks, I would just say that there has not been one earmark that has been challenged here tonight that isn't going to a valuable organization as far as I'm concerned. The question is not is there…

Again, I don't want to diminish the need that the locals feel to have this museum. People around the country have varying needs and wants for museums, whether it is a teapot museum in North Carolina or a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio…

I'd simply repeat what I said. Virtually every district in the country can accurately say that certain parts of their district are economically depressed. We simply don't have enough money in the Federal Treasury to address all those…

This amendment would strike $150,000 for the Burpee Museum in Rockford, Illinois, for educational programming and exhibits and, as mentioned, reduces the cost of the bill by a consistent amount. Now, I don't want to take a lot of time on…

I'm wondering, in the report that accompanied the bill, it mentioned that the earmark was to go to the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure, but the certification letter says that it's going to go to that but the earmark should…

But what he missed, as the good gentleman from Indiana mentioned, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin from Illinois, not afflicted with sun spots, by the way, just yesterday said, ``It is time to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine.'' So I…

This is an earmark that begets earmarks. This is going to a business organization whose job it is to receive other Federal moneys. There have been many stories written over the past several weeks about organizations like this that exist to…

If the gentleman would explain, I am still a little confused. The earmark states it is for Philadelphia Art Museum exterior facade, but then we are talking about an extension or expansion as well. Is this for the historic facade or for an…

Let me just say, again, the gentlewoman mentioned that we have this program for historic preservation, the Saving America's Treasures, and that it is tough to get on the list for that. As I understand it, grants are given out and those…

If the gentlewoman will respond, I have a question. The earmark states that it is for Firefighter's Hall in Columbus, but the certification letter says the money is to go to the firefighters' union. Why does the union get the money?

I would submit not very much. But yet the same ones who support increasing this funding by five times also will not support allowing individuals to visit their own family members in Cuba and take toothpaste or clothing items or even to…