May 23, 2019

Thomas A. Schatz, President OCAGW

Earlier today, the Senate Republican Conference voted to ban pork-barrel earmarks permanently. The initiative – introduced and pushed by Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) – replaces the temporary earmark moratorium passed in 2011 with a permanent ban.

I would like to thank CCAGW’s members and supporters for sending tens of thousands of letters to Congress over the past several years opposing earmarks. Your participation in our Action Alert campaigns was instrumental in this victory!

Earmarking is one of the most wasteful and corruptive practices in congressional history. Rampant earmarking has resulted in members of Congress squandering $344.5 billion in taxpayer funds since 1991 on self-serving, special interest projects like Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere,” Iowa’s indoor tropical rain forest, and North Carolina’s teapot museum.

The era of earmarks was also marred by scandals that resulted in jail terms for Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) and Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

CCAGW has been highlighting the cost of earmarks to taxpayers and our democratic system of government since we released the first Congressional Pig Book in 1991. Today’s vote is a significant victory in the fight to impose fiscal discipline on Washington.

Thank you again for your help in achieving this success!

kommonsentsjane