Senate and House Vote to Continue Earmark Favor Factory

Despite a surge of grassroots and political support, a one-year moratorium on pork-barrel earmarks fell short in the Senate last night. Senator Jim DeMint and a bipartisan coalition of his colleagues offered an amendment to ban earmarks for the 2009 fiscal year, but the amendment was defeated 29-71. Senator DeMint deserves credit for taking the lead in the Senate on this important issue.

“Earmarking” is the practice by which members of Congress divert taxpayer funding to special projects outside of the normal competitive and merit-based review process. This process has grown out of control and is open to waste, abuse, and corruption.

In an interesting twist, all three major presidential candidates voted for the moratorium showing the broad appeal that the issue holds with the public. Sens. McCain, Obama, and Clinton all realize that in a national election, voters, particularly independent voters, are looking for candidates with a nation vision, not candidates preoccupied with parochial pet projects for special interests.

On the House side the evening was just as disappointing. The House voted 263-157 against the Republican budget alternative. Crafted by true champions of fiscal responsibility such as Paul Ryan (WI-1), Jeff Flake (AZ-6), and Jeb Henserling (TX-5), the Republican alternative also included an earmark moratorium for fiscal year 2009.

Although defeated last night, earmark reform as an issue continues to gain strength and support both on Capitol Hill and with the voters, as momentum builds against wasteful spending in Congress.

FreedomWorks will continued its fight to stop “earmarking” through a simple, personal pledge for federal lawmakers that already has 15 signatories. The pledge gives signers an opportunity to go on the record against the broken earmark process. Grassroots activists will be able to download the pledge and monitor progress at the FreedomWorks sponsored site, www.earmarkpledge.com.

FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe commented:

“While I’m disappointed by the vote outcomes from last night, I’m pleased that the momentum of reform forced a vote in the first place. As voters demand an end to the abusive and corrupt earmark process, legislators will be forced to confront this issue again. We look forward to many more votes to cancel funding for specific earmarks in the months ahead.”