John Ensign: “Under the Constitution, the legislative branch controls the purse strings. That is a significant authority given to…”

“Under the Constitution, the legislative branch controls the purse strings. That is a significant authority given to Congress. Congress must use that authority wisely. As I explained earlier today on the floor, too often conferees insert earmarks in conference reports that were not funded in either bill passed by the House or the Senate. In a democracy such as ours, Congress should do its business in the full light of day. The entire Senate should consider, debate, and amend legislation in full view of the American public. We should scrutinize how Federal dollars are spent. Each project Congress funds should be debated and considered by Congress. We must do a better job of oversight. We must ensure that the taxpayers' dollars are being spent wisely. But when we insert projects in a conference report, without debate and without oversight, we fail to live up to our responsibilities as Senators. What the Ensign-McCain-DeMint amendment would do is fix what has become a broken process.”