Athens Review, Athens, Texas

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July 9, 2009

Fighting against earmark spending

Rep. Hensarling proposes amendment to bill which would have saved taxpayers $200,000

Special to the Review

WASHINTON D.C. — Congressman Jeb Hensarling offered an amendment to a 2010 federal spending bill on Wednesday.

The amendment would have saved taxpayers $200,000 by striking an earmark in the district of Congressman John Murtha, of Pennsylvania.

On April 19, the Washington Post noted that Congressman Murtha consistently directs more federal money to his district than any other congressman — $192 million in the 2008 budget alone.

Hensarling’s amendment would reduce the overall spending level in the spending bill by $200,000.

“While not all earmarks are bad, all too often, the earmark process represents the triumph of secrecy over transparency, special interest over national interest, and seniority over merit,” he said. “The American people frequently see campaign cash coming in one end of the nation’s capitol and special interest earmarks coming out the other.”

During a floor debate on his amendment, Congressman Hensarling — the vice ranking member of the House Budget Committee — pointed out that the $200,000 to pay for the pork barrel project in question could be put to better use and that, if his amendment were adopted, the money could be used instead to ease the burden on taxpayers or create jobs and stimulate economic growth in America.

“Clearly, the national priority has got to be job growth, economic growth,” he said. “and by any standard the economic policies of this Democratic Congress, the economic policies of this Administration have been an abject failure: 2.6 million jobs lost since February — 467,000 jobs lost last month alone; 9.5 percent unemployment throughout the land — the highest unemployment in a quarter of a century.”

Hensarling said the country has nothing but debt to show for all the money Congress has spent.

“Mountains and mountains of debt in spending for our children and grandchildren. Already we have spent $9,810 per household to fund a $1.13 trillion government stimulus plan; $3,534 per household to fund a $410 billion omnibus; $31,000 per household to fund a $3.6 trillion 2010 budget” he said. “Washington has spent billions for Chrysler; billions for GM; billions for AIG, all the while borrowing 46 cents on the dollar, borrowing it from the Chinese, sending the bill to our children and grandchildren.”

Hensarling said this is an opportunity for the taxpayers to save $200,000.

Not to borrow that money from the Chinese.

He also highlighted that the $200,000 could be used to spur economic growth. According to the Small Business Administration, the average small business is capitalized with $25,000.

“We could save eight small businesses in America,” Hensarling said. “When it comes to earmarks it's not just that there are a few bad apples in the barrel. The barrel is full of rotten apples.”

Hensarling does not request earmarks and has called for a complete moratorium on pork barrel spending until the earmark process is reformed.

Hensarling has co-sponsored the Legislative Line-Item Veto Act, which would take earmark reform to the next level by allowing the President to identify egregious pork barrel spending requests and send them back to Congress for an up-or-down vote without jeopardizing the entire bill. Congress would then have to go on record and accept or reject loads of pork barrel spending.

“Earmarks are the gateway drug to Washington’s spending addiction,” he said. “We must reform this process before we can enact the sort of fiscal reforms that will ensure our children and future generations of Americans do not bear a crushing load of debt as they work toward fulfilling their American dream.”

While Hensarling’s amendment was defeated, he said he will not give up on his quest to rehabilitate Washington’s wasteful spending habits.

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