In case you hadn’t heard, Richard Shelby (R-AL) has shut down the government because he wants fat, greasy pork projects for Alabama — including his own personal $45 million earmark.
Odd. I thought earmarks and pork were the root of all our problems.
“The president needs to come out and say that he’ll veto any appropriations bill that has an earmark or pork-barrel project tacked onto it. We need to be very focused on eliminating the deficit.”
“I think the president missed a golden opportunity to really fulfill his campaign commitment to not sign bills that have a lot of wasteful spending and are overburdened with earmarks,” Boehner said.
Earmarks have created a culture of corruption in Congress that wastes billions of tax dollars on special interest projects–like pork in the stimulus bill, the “Cornhusker Kickback,” and the Wall Street bailout–and allows party leaders to bribe politicians for their votes.
Candidate Obama promised us that his economic stimulus package would be targeted and pork-free, but President Obama signed a stimulus bill loaded with pork and goodies for corporate cronies.
“There is no question that we’ve got to change this entire process [on earmarks]. It is a system gone bad.”
Washington is addicted to spending and earmarks are the gateway drug to enormous debt. We need to stop earmarks and require a balanced budget.
Earmarxism is an appropriate term because earmarks are a tool career politicians use to reinforce the belief that the average citizen needs the federal government, and their individual member of Congress, to provide for their basic needs.
But in response to Shelby’s Pork Putsch?
Crickets.
