Congressional Budget for the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2009 -- Continued

Floor Speech

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET FOR THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2009--Continued -- (Senate - March 12, 2008)

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Mrs. McCASKILL. Madam President, I will speak for a few minutes about the amendment I have cosponsored with Senator DeMint concerning the earmarking process in Congress.

It is very unusual that a problem is as bipartisan as this problem is. Spending public money is something we should take very seriously. It is one of the most important things we do. We all have to remember, it is not our money. This spending of public money should be done on merit; it should be done on a cost-benefit basis; it should be done on getting the most bang for our buck.

Spending public money should not be based on your political party. It should not be based on what State you come from. It should not be based on which committee you are assigned to. And it should certainly not be based on how politically vulnerable you might be in the next election.

If you look at the numbers, for example, the minority Members of the House of Representatives who represent primarily African-American districts, it is frankly hard to explain that they get less in earmarking money than even the Republican Members of the House. Why is that? Many of them are in politically safe seats.

In other words, what happens around here sometimes is you get more money if everyone thinks you need to be able to spend more money because that will help you get reelected.

Well, that is a goofy way to spend public money. That is not the way we should be spending public money. Many of these projects that are funded are great projects. Many of them I support. But distribution is not done on merit.

I have heard over and over again the arguments about the power of the purse, and that somehow if we do not do earmarking we are ceding congressional authority to the executive branch. Well, with all due respect, for 200 years we did fine without earmarking. I do not recall President Lincoln or Thomas Jefferson or FDR or LBJ saying it was essential for the balance of power in our constitutional form of Government to make sure that individual Members of Congress have the ability to personally decide how to spend public money.

So I think the idea that this practice, which started in the 1980s, late 1980s, and did not become an art form until the last 5 or 6 years, is kind of a hollow argument to say somehow this building is going to shake and lightning is going to strike and our power is going to dissipate.

We are debating this week all the power we have. The power of the purse is reflected in our budget amendments and is reflected in the appropriations. We continue to make the decisions. We will always continue to make the decisions about the priorities of the way our Government should spend its money. That is the way the Constitution was designed.

Finally, there are practices that continue to occur that hurt many States and hurt many citizens in terms of the way we are sacrificing the formula grants and the competitive grants in order to fund earmarks.

We give haircut after haircut after haircut to our formula grants and to our other grants. If you look at the Byrne grants, if you look at the violence against women grants, if you look at the COPS Program, all of these were based on merit. I know, because I used to apply for them when I was a prosecutor. They have been cut and cut and cut while earmarks have gone up and up and up. We are still air-dropping. We are continuing to fund private companies for projects not even requested by the Government.

It is time for, as I would say to my kids when they were young, a time-out. We need to take a deep breath, see if we can take another run at more reform and see if we cannot get to the business of spending public money based on merit and getting the best value for the dollar, not on the power of an individual Member or who you know.

I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that the time be charged equally to both sides.

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