END OF AN EARMARK ERA?

From AZ GOP National Committeeman
BRUCE ASH


President Bush Reins In Pork; Will Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) Be Able To End Her Earmarking Ways?
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Last Night, President George Bush Pledged To Rein In Pork Barrel Spending By Cutting Earmarks In Half:

In Last Night's State Of The Union Address, President Bush Pledged To Veto Any Spending Bill That Does Not Cut Earmark Spending In Half. "[President Bush] said he will use his veto pen and administrative powers to try to rein in the proliferation of 'earmarks,' the projects inserted by lawmakers into annual spending bills and totaling roughly $17 billion in the last budget. Bush warned he would veto any spending bill that does not cut in half the number and cost of earmarks from the year before. He also said he will sign an executive order requiring agencies to ignore any earmark not included in the language of legislation." (Michael Abramowitz and Dan Eggen, "Bush Touts Iraq Progress, Economic Plan," The Washington Post, 1/29/08)

President Bush: "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks." (President George W. Bush, State Of The Union Address, Washington, D.C., 1/28/08)
While In The Senate, Sen. Clinton Has Engaged In "Old-Fashioned Pork-Barrel Politics":

"[N]ew York's Junior Senator Has Embraced Old-Fashioned Pork-Barrel Politics..." (Tom Hamburger and Dan Morain, "Clinton Rolls A Sizable Pork Barrel," Los Angeles Times, 12/10/07)

Kevin Hassett, Director Of Economic-Policy Studies At The American Enterprise Institute: "How Can Someone Who Is One Of The Biggest Contributors To The [Earmark] Problem Be Part Of The Cure?" (Kevin Hassett, Op-Ed, "Hillary Clinton Reigns As Queen Of Federal Pork," Bloomberg News, 10/8/07)

Hassett: "Clinton might want to join [Clinton Treasury Secretary] Robert Rubin on the high horse of fiscal discipline ... But if she is the queen of pork, she loses her moral authority." (Kevin Hassett, Op-Ed, "Hillary Clinton Reigns As Queen Of Federal Pork," Bloomberg News, 10/8/07)
Sen. Clinton Has Secured Over $2 Billion In Earmarks And Refused To Make Her Earmark Information Public:

From 2002 To 2006, Sen. Clinton Secured $2.2 Billion In Earmarks. "Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, has calculated that Clinton landed 360 earmarks worth $2.2 billion from 2002 to 2006 in various spending bills. The beneficiaries have ranged from defense giant Northrop Grumman Corp. to New York-based Telephonics, which won $5 million for helicopter equipment." (Michael R. Blood, "McCain Says He'll Fight Clinton's 'Pork,'" The Associated Press, 6/14/07)

Sen. Clinton Has Requested At Least $530 Million In Earmarks In Three Of The Twelve Annual Appropriations Bills. "A review of the first three appropriations conference reports finished by Senate and House negotiators shows that Clinton has successfully requested at least $530 million worth of projects." (Alexander Bolton, "Clinton Tops 2008 Rivals, Gets $530M In Earmarks," The Hill, 11/9/07)

Sen. Clinton Had More Earmarks In The 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill Than All But One Democrat, Totaling $148 Million. "In the fiscal 2008 defense-spending bill alone, Clinton successfully attached 26 earmarks worth $148 million, which was the most of any Democrat except Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, who is now chairman of the Armed Services Committee." (Kevin Hassett, Op-Ed, "Hillary Clinton Reigns As Queen Of Federal Pork," Bloomberg News, 10/8/07)

Sen. Clinton's Pet Projects Have "Questionable Public Value," Such As Earmarking Nearly Half-A-Million Dollars In Taxpayer Money For The Seneca Knitting Mill And The Buffalo Urban Arts Center. "[C]linton has deftly spread federal taxpayers' money around to parochial projects of questionable public value, sending, for example, $250,000 to the Seneca Knitting Mill, and $200,000 to the Buffalo Urban Arts Center." (Kevin Hassett, Op-Ed, "Hillary Clinton Reigns As Queen Of Federal Pork," Bloomberg News, 10/8/07)

Sen. Clinton Has Refused To Make Her Earmark Information Public, Unlike Other Democrat Presidential Candidates. "On the Democratic side, however, the major candidates have been much less forthright. Only Barack Obama has voluntarily made his earmark information publicly available. The others are covering their tracks. ... The Clinton campaign refused to respond at all to requests that she identify her earmarks." (Kevin Hassett, Op-Ed, "Hillary Clinton Reigns As Queen Of Federal Pork," Bloomberg News, 10/8/07)

And Sen. Clinton Attempted To Secure $1 Million In Funds For A Campaign Contributor's Woodstock Museum:

The Senate Appropriations Committee Approved A Request From Sen. Clinton And Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) For $1 Million For A Woodstock Concert Museum. "Days after a Senate committee approved $1 million for a Woodstock concert museum, the project's ... backer and his family contributed $29,200 to help the Democrats who requested the money, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer." (Ken Dilanian, "Timing Of Gifts Stirs 'Earmark' Debate," USA Today, 10/17/07)

The Project's Primary Backer, Alan Gerry, Contributed At Least $18,600 To Sen. Clinton Since 2005. "The man behind the project is Alan Gerry, a former cable television mogul ... Most of the Democratic recipients helped the Woodstock venture. Since 2005, the Gerrys have donated $150,000 to the Schumer-led Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $18,600 to Clinton." (Ken Dilanian, "Timing Of Gifts Stirs 'Earmark' Debate," USA Today, 10/17/07)
Gerry And His Wife Contributed To Schumer's DSCC And Sen. Clinton Within Days After The Earmark Was Approved In Committee. "The million-dollar earmark was included in a Senate education spending bill that came out of committee on June 21. On June 26, the Gerrys and two of their children who sit on the foundation's board made $20,000 in contributions to the Schumer-led Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. On June 30, the couple made $9,200 in contributions to Clinton's presidential campaign -- the maximum allowed by law." (Ken Dilanian, "Timing Of Gifts Stirs 'Earmark' Debate," USA Today, 10/17/07)
The Senate-Passed Prohibition On Funds For The Woodstock Museum Was Stripped In The Conference Report. "The conference report on the bill removes the prohibition on funds for the 'hippie' museum passed by the Senate but does not actually authorize the $1 million. A phone call from Schumer to the Health and Human Services Department could restore the funding. But Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, who led the unexpectedly successful floor fight against the earmark, thinks Schumer will not defy the will of the Senate. Sen. Hillary Clinton, Schumer's fellow Democrat from New York and co-sponsor of the Woodstock earmark, has given no such assurance to Coburn." (Robert Novak, Op-Ed, "Musharraf And Bhutto Turn To Sen. Biden Before Talking To Bush," Chicago Sun-Times, 11/11/07)

Chicago Sun-Times' Robert Novak Called The Woodstock Earmark "Flower-Power Pork." (Robert Novak, Op-Ed, "Flower-Power Pork," Chicago Sun-Times, 10/18/07)

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