Many of the earmark request forms are actually filled out by lobbyists and then just turned in by the member's staff to the appropriations committee.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Politicians like to confuse congressional spending with earmarks. There is a difference.
We need earmark reform, and when I'm President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.
Earmarks have become a symbol of a Congress that has broken faith with the people. This earmark ban shows the American people we are listening and we are dead serious about ending business as usual in Washington.
The earmark favor factory needs to be boarded up and demolished, not turned over to new management that may or may not have a better eye for earmarks with 'merit.'
I'd be a lot more excited about eliminating earmarks if we reduced all of the spending by whatever the earmarks used to be, but nobody's, apparently, going to talk about doing that.
Frankly, earmarking is not the problem. It is a symptom of the problem.
During my first term in Congress, I signed a pledge that I will take no more earmarks and I've been faithful to that pledge.
Jim, I'm not aware of any formal requests from the Senate Judiciary Committee for these kinds of documents.
The responsible use of earmarks can have public benefits.
Earmarks are almost always inserted by a member of Congress without any notice to other members, and without a chance for Congress as a whole to debate a particular earmark as they relate to national priorities.