Kay Bailey Hutchison: “We are not saying whether earmarks are good or bad. We are not saying that we have some and not others. All we are…”

“We are not saying whether earmarks are good or bad. We are not saying that we have some and not others. All we are saying is that earmarks are designated spending. Whether it be Federal, non-Federal, or report language, it should be disclosed in the same way. This chart shows the number of earmarks in the 2006 budget of 12,852. The Senate bill would apply to only 534 of those. So if we are going to have disclosure of earmarks--and that is up to the Senate to decide--if we are going to say we are going to have disclosure, I think we need to include the 12,318 that we don't want to tell people about. People will not believe we are transparent. I think that is what both sides of the aisle want. That is the only thing this amendment does; it doesn't limit earmarks. It doesn't change anything except it defines them in a way that is open and honest.”