Bill Lee: “I am grateful for the work that has been done by the Senator from Arizona on this topic. One of the first times I…”

“I am grateful for the work that has been done by the Senator from Arizona on this topic. One of the first times I remember seeing the Senator from Arizona on TV, many years before I was elected to the Senate, was while he was serving in the House of Representatives. I saw him interviewed on national television, talking about this issue--talking about the corruption that inevitably flows from a system that allows for favors like these to be handed out. I remember the immense respect I had for this man whom I did not yet know and wouldn't come to know for another decade or so, but who was willing to call out something that he believed was contrary to public policy, contrary to any system that would result in a good consequence, a good outcome for the American people. I also appreciate the comment he made a moment ago about a familiar refrain by defenders of earmarks. Senator Flake mentioned that over time people would point out that earmarks were, even during their heyday, maybe representing a couple of percentage points of total Federal spending. Well, that may be true, if you want to put it that way, in those terms, as they inevitably did at the time, quite persistently. But it overlooks a few things. It is a much larger percentage, of course, of discretionary spending, and of domestic nondefense discretionary spending could even be a larger percentage.…”