Biggert is 37th House Member to Swear off Pork
Congratulations are in order for Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IL-13). She is the 37th House member to swear off earmarks. Her office issued this press release yesterday:
[...]Biggert (R-IL-13) today announced that she will not participate in Washington’s broken earmark system. The announcement was made during an economic roundtable event in Downers Grove where Biggert met with local business leaders from the Downers Grove Chamber of Commerce and Downers Grove Economic Development Corporation to discuss local and national economic concerns, including federal spending, taxes, and mortgage reform.
[...]“I’ve always said I’d be willing to give up earmarks if the Senate would do the same and spending is actually reduced,” said Biggert. “With more support than ever before for a moratorium, I think we have the best opportunity yet to do just that. But individual members must be willing to take the lead on this if we are ever going to see real earmark reforms enacted.”
Biggert noted that Congress has a Constitutional responsibility to make spending decisions, including decisions to spend federal money on specific projects, but the process should be open to greater public scrutiny and debate. Although the House has enacted recent reforms to increase transparency, the potential for abuse remains high because rules do not apply equally to bills and conference reports, or to authorization, appropriations, or tax bills. In some cases, whoever is chairing the floor of the House can rule on an objection to an earmark -- without a vote ever occurring. Other earmarks can avoid review altogether by being ‘airdropped’ into a conference report after a spending bill has passed both the House and Senate.
Posted at Andrew Roth at 8:52 AM | TrackBack
