The AP reported this morning that the Senate voted down a proposal to stop wasteful spending for one year. The process of funding these types of projects, often called pork barrel spending, has long been an issue of contention. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) introduced the DeMint-McCain Earmark Moratorium to eliminate all pork barrel spending for one year during the 2009 budget. While all the major presidential candidates did favor the ban, there wasn't much more support. In a 71-29 vote, the Senate decided that they could not even give the tax payers one year of responsible spending.
Citizens Against Government Waste reports that "in addition to inviting fraudulent behavior, earmarking diverts lawmakers’ attention from important national business". The White House's budget analysis is estimating that for the current year we can expect a $410 billion in deficit. Compare that to the fact that since 1991 the US government has given $252 billion to pork spending. Over 60% of the defecit could've been eleiminated by stopping this wastefullness.
Below is a list of Senators who voted this proposal down. Are yours there?
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Domenici (R-NM)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Roberts (R-KS)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Stevens (R-AK)
Tester (D-MT)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)
I think that this particular piece of legislation was a political ploy. Look, I'm all for curbing irresponsible spending, but the particular Senator who introduced the legislation has a reputation for trying to score cheap political points.
It seems like a platform to run on-- so the Republicans can say, "look! we're responsible with your tax money, not like those tax and spend Democrats" in order to mitigate the wasteful spending Republicans have engaged in the last seven years under Bush.
It was meaningless legislation. But keep in mind: those earmarks aren't always wasteful. They pay for bridges and infrastructure to be repaired when it's too expensive for the state to fix it. If there were earmarks allocated to New Orleans for fixing the levies, they wouldn't have broken during Katrina. Not all of it is useless.
I think that a good way to stop this is to allow the president single line VETO. where he can veto just the pork barrel spending.
line-item vetos are unconstitutional.