RSS 2.0 FeedDeMint Blasting New Congress On Earmark Reform
by Brad WarbianySome of you may remember that our Senate passed a very mild, quite innocuous bill requiring some simple earmark reform. Basically they asked that lawmakers actually identify themselves when they request such an earmark. The requirement has been ignored by Senate leadership.
So Jim DeMint sent them a letter (PDF):
Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:
We are writing to notify you that we will seek unanimous consent to enact
S.Res.123, the Senate earmark disclosure rule, on Tuesday, April 17.As you know, this rule was passed the Senate by a vote of 98-0 as an amendment
to S.I, the lobbying and ethics reform bill. Unfortunately, the House has not acted on this
legislation and therefore, the Senate’s new earmark disclosure requirements have not
been enacted. With this year’s appropriation cycle in full swing and other heavily earmarked
bills being drafted, the Senate must act quickly to implement this important
ethics reform.S. Res. 123 requires disclosure of several types of information related to earmarks
contained in committee-passed bills, which must be made available in a searchable
format on the Internet. This includes the name of the senator requesting the earmark, the
name and address of the intended recipient of the earmark, the purpose of the earmark,
and a certification that the requesting senator and his or her spouse have no financial
interest in the requested earmark. This is simple information that every senator should be
willing to provide the public.
To ensure that the tone of this letter is understood, of course, the next line needs to be highlighted all on its own:
Unfortunately, recent events indicate that the new Congress may be less inclined
to shine light on the congressional favor factory than it previously claimed.
The letter was signed by DeMint and four others (including Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), and John Cornyn (R-TX)). I can’t quite make out the signatures of the other two, one looks like Michael Enzi and the last is beyond my ability to read.
Either way, I applaud these five for trying to follow up on this. Congress tends to pass legislation and make promises when the public starts complaining, it’s good to know that someone is trying to make sure they actually do what they promise.
[...] Brad Warbiany is on this as [...]
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