A constant refrain from campaign '08 was that earmarks were bad and needed to go. Both Obama and McCain agreed on that and tried to out-due each other in how they would work to get rid of them. From
The Hill:
Fiscal hawks in Congress say President Barack Obama hasn't followed through on a pledge to lower federal spending on local projects.
Earmarks are expected to total nearly $12 billion in fiscal 2010, according to fiscal watchdog groups. While that number is less than the $15 billion total in 2009, lawmakers from both parties said Obama hasn’t kept up the kind of pressure he showed during his first weeks in office or that he promised as a candidate.
1 comments:
Earmarks are not the problem. If earmarks are not put into bills, the money can be spent any old which way. What's more, earmarks only account for anywhere between $12-$17 billion of the total Federal Budget. When you're looking at a nearly $1.5 TRILLION budget, that's hardly a drop in the bucket.
Someone has to be willing to go after the meat and potatoes which is entitlement spending and transfer payments.
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