Wayne Allard: “Madam President, I will not go on, on this issue, but I believe we need to, as a body, sit down and try to fix this…”

“Madam President, I will not go on, on this issue, but I believe we need to, as a body, sit down and try to fix this unfortunate situation where we are not allowing amendments nor sufficient examination of legislation before the body. Madam President, there is one silver lining to the measure pending before us. It is largely free of wasteful earmarking and porkbarrel spending. This is the first time during my years in Congress I have witnessed such an occurrence. Compare this to the last fiscal year, 2006. According to data compiled by the Congressional Research Service, the appropriations bills and accompanying reports for the last fiscal year included $64 billion in earmarks--the largest earmarked funding in history. So again, this CR, which does not have an accompanying report where historically 95 percent of earmarks are included, is a welcomed change. I can only urge the Appropriations Committee to let this be a guide for future appropriations measures when it comes to earmarks: Do not include them and do not waste the taxpayers' dollars.”