Rep. Issa Suspends Earmark Requests - Cites President's Broken Earmarks Pledge, Massive New Spending, Corrupted Process
Rep. Darrell Issa today announced that he will not make appropriations project spending requests, also known as earmarks, for FY 2010. He cited President Barack Obama's broken campaign promise to veto bills that do not bring earmarking down to 1994 levels and a 92% increase in spending over last year's level as deciding factors in his decision.
"President Obama's spending priorities have more than tripled the federal budget deficit for Fiscal Year 2009 ballooning it to $1.7 trillion," said Issa in a letter to local officials explaining his decision. "As a result, the state of our nation's finances is dire, and our federal spending plan does not in any way bear an appropriate relationship to the state of our nation's economy."
Rep. Issa, whose concerns about a corrupted process led him to lead an effort to increase transparency in the spending process by publicly disclosing all spending project requests, pointed to continuing criminal investigations into earmarking as evidence that Congress has not done enough to fix a broken appropriations process.
"After eight years in office, it's become to clear to me that projects are not judged on the merits but on the seniority and power of the requesting member or lobbyist," said Issa. "Congress' spending process is broken and out of control."
The decision to suspend earmark requests goes into effect immediately meaning that Rep. Issa will not submit projects at the end of this month for the FY 2010 budget cycle.
"I am committed to providing the leadership necessary to reduce federal spending to sustainable levels," Issa concluded in his letter to local officials. "Until that goal is realized, I will not be participating in the Congressional earmark process."