When you have to earmark human and monetary resources for such a long time, it starts to hinder your other activities.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The responsible use of earmarks can have public benefits.
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.
In the not-for-profit world, there can be wastefulness because there's not the desperate urgency of when you're on a clock.
We know that appropriators will fight these cutbacks. But by eliminating earmarks, we can stop the horse trading that grows agency budgets.
I hate wasting time or money and that happens all the time for no good reason, and then people save money by skimping on the important things.
Frankly, earmarking is not the problem. It is a symptom of the problem.
If you look at history we've had since I've been in office, in an environment where we haven't had earmarks, we've still been able to get tens of millions of dollars for McLennan County.
It is safe to say that when people are short on cash, they might be less productive at work, be worse parents, and have less self-control.
We can't control whether we are rewarded for our endeavours, with cash or recognition. It is not up to us how much cash or time we get on Earth, but it is down to us how we spend it.
It has been my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.