Political Quotes

“Madam President, the amendment offered by the Senator from South Carolina is, simply stated, a misguided attempt which would turn over the power of the purse to the executive branch. It will not save a penny toward the deficit. It will allow unelected bureaucrats who have no accountability to voters to determine how Federal tax dollars are expended instead of the Congress. Despite the protestations of a few Senators and an active media campaign spurred on by well-financed so-called watchdogs, this amendment is a solution to a problem that does not exist. For the sake of my colleagues who may still want to support a moratorium on earmarks, let me point out where we are at this moment. Since retaking the majority in 2006, the Democratic-led Congress has reduced funding for earmarks by more than 50 percent. As the new chairman of the appropriations committee last year I vowed with the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative Obey, that we would continue on the path set by former Chairman Byrd to reduce earmarks until they represented less than 1 percent of discretionary spending. We achieved that objective in the fiscal year 2010 Appropriations Bills, and we have agreed that we will not exceed 1 percent as long as we are chairmen of our respective committees. If we look at the numbers in 2006, the completed appropriations Acts included $16.7 billion in what are called ``Non-project Based Earmarks.…”