McCaskill Aims to Tighten Lid on Earmark Ban

Press Release

U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today reintroduced her bipartisan legislation to "tighten the lid" on the ban on Congressional earmarks--prohibiting members of Congress from directing taxpayer funds to questionable pet-projects.

McCaskill's bipartisan Earmark Elimination Act--which she is cosponsoring with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania-- makes permanent the Senate's temporary moratorium on earmarks that McCaskill helped create.

The Earmark Elimination Act would:

* Permanently ban all earmarks
* Define earmarks as any congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit
* Create a point of order against any legislation containing an earmark. The point of order would only apply to the actual earmark, rather than to the entire bill
* Require a two-thirds vote to waive the point of order

"The public deserves an accountable, transparent government, and in this case that means getting rid of pork-barrel earmarks once and for all," McCaskill said. "Our bipartisan bill will strengthen Americans' confidence in their government--confidence that was jeopardized when lawmakers used earmarks to siphon taxpayer dollars for politically-inspired pet projects, instead of making decisions based on merit and competition."

"Every member of Congress has a responsibility to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars. I take this responsibility seriously and will continue to fight on behalf of Pennsylvania taxpayers so that the hard-earned funds they send to Washington are used in the most efficient manner," said Toomey. "Permanently banning earmarks is a big step in the right direction. For years, earmarks played a significant role in fueling the overspending in Washington. The process encouraged currying favor with lobbyists and special interests and undermined the integrity of our legislative process. My colleagues in Congress cannot credibly talk about cleaning up Washington if we do not get rid of earmarking for good and I look forward to working with Sen. McCaskill on this bipartisan effort."

Since arriving to Congress in 2007, McCaskill has been dogged in her pursuit to eliminate earmarks, continuously building support to end the practice and ensure projects receiving taxpayer dollars are chosen based on competition and merit. McCaskill has called out members of both parties for participating in earmarking and has led the charge to protect millions of taxpayers' dollars from earmarked pet-projects in everything from infrastructure to water resources to agriculture.

Source