Op-Ed: Tightening Government's Belt

Op-Ed

With our country facing record deficits, Congress needs to show leadership and cut wasteful or unnecessary spending, just as all Americans do in tough economic times. As we look at ways to save taxpayer dollars, one of the first things to go should be spending for pet projects that is earmarked or slipped into large appropriations bills. Some of these earmarks may be worthy projects, but if they are worth doing then they should be able to make it through a competitive or merit-based process, instead of avoiding any real scrutiny by being tucked into big spending bills.

I want to eliminate all earmarks, but at a minimum we should get rid of low priority earmark projects. A lawmaker might get an earmark for his or her district but then the project stalls, is unfeasible or is even unwanted by folks back home and just sits on the shelf. Directing taxpayer money to a pet project isn't a good idea to start with. It makes even less sense when that project isn't wanted or needed.

I'm going after these old earmarks in the Senate, and I just had an important victory. On a recent bill, I passed an amendment, with overwhelming bipartisan support, to get rid of old, unspent transportation earmarks -- specifically, those older than 10 years and with less than 10 percent spent or obligated. Even senators who strongly support infrastructure spending realize it makes no sense to keep these old earmarks on the books. Getting rid of these earmarks saves an estimated $541 million this year alone in highway and bridge earmarks. And the amendment could save hundreds of millions more over time as other unspent earmarks reach the 10-year mark.

The amendment is based on a proposal President Bush made in 2008,on which I based a provision in my Control Spending Now Act, legislation I introduced last fall to cut the deficit by about one half trillion dollars. At a recent Budget Committee hearing, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood also endorsed my proposal. This is a commonsense measure, supported by both a Republican and a Democratic administration and an overwhelming majority of the Senate. With record-high deficits, we should not be spending taxpayer dollars for projects that are either a low priority or that nobody even wants.

But in addition to cleaning up previously misplaced earmarks, we also need to crack down on future earmarks, which is why I recently cosponsored an effort by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) to place a year-long ban on earmarks, and endorsed House Republicans' decision to impose a year-long ban on earmarks. And I am continuing to push for passage of bipartisan bills I introduced to prevent earmarks from being slipped into larger spending bills, and to give the president a line item veto to remove these wasteful provisions.

We have made some progress but Congress needs to go much further to fix the broken earmarking system, which breeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars. Wisconsinites are cutting their own budgets in a tough economy, and they deserve a government that exercises the same care with their dollars. In the spirit of Wisconsin's history of fiscal discipline, I am proud to help lead the way.

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