Virginia Foxx: “The earmark and pork barrel system is broken. And we have to do something about it. I will have to confess that in my…”

“The earmark and pork barrel system is broken. And we have to do something about it. I will have to confess that in my first 2 years in Congress, I did ask for earmarks. And my earmarks were very transparent. I felt that every project I asked for was very valid and very worthy. They were all designed to help with economic development in my district. The requests came from county commissioners, airport commissions and economic development groups. They all came very legitimately and very openly from the people in the counties that I represented in the Fifth District of North Carolina. And I have no problem at all defending those. However, what I learned in the process is that this earmark system is badly broken. Not everybody who was requesting special funding was being as transparent as I was being. And I have come to the conclusion that we must have a moratorium on earmarks until we can fix the system. I believe the American people have become very, very cynical about the Congress and about Washington in general.”