Bush to join Dems in tackling 'earmarks' By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
2 hours, 29 minutes ago
( Wonder why Bush didn't adopt this when his Repugnicans ran Congress? I guess he just needed some leadership! )
WASHINGTON - Setting priorities for next year, the White House said Friday President Bush will push to cut back on the thousands of home-state projects that lawmakers slip into spending bills.
Democrats who will take control of Congress in January already have pledged to rein in the projects, known as "earmarks," which exploded in number under Republican control of Congress over the last 12 years.
"It's important that when you have a budget process, that things are not tucked in without consideration by members of Congress," presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.
Snow suggested that budget reform was an area where Bush and the Democrats could cooperate after years of growing hostility and suspicion. It is expected to be one of the subjects raised by Bush in his State of the Union address in late January.
Snow said there should be "a concerted effort to cut down" on earmarks "to allow people to have full confidence that everything that's in the budget, that their money is being spent in a way that reflects deliberation by members of Congress."
Critics call hometown projects "pork," but their sponsors say that, as elected representatives, they know more about the needs of people in their states than the president and government bureaucrats. Projects they often want funded range from road, bridge and flood-control construction to economic development. Beneficiaries include local governments, hospitals and universities.
A plan by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees would kill thousands of pet projects.
"There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., and Sen. Robert Byrd (news, bio, voting record), D-W.Va., said Monday in a statement announcing their plans, which were endorsed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Obey and Byrd said lawmakers could reapply for home-state projects next year when Congress turns to the fiscal 2008 budget cycle — after changes in the earmarking process are put in place. |
