On Dec 1st, Gov. Mike Huckabee posted his thoughts on eliminating earmarks on his HuckPac website titled: Senate Democrats Reject Moratorium On Earmarks
Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted on a motion that would've put an end to earmarks for fiscal years 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The Senate, with a vote of 56 to 39 rejected the motion. Sadly, there were 8 Republican Senators who voted against the motion.
Consistently casting votes like this is an indication that our politicians in Washington are more interested in bringing the pork back to their states and districts than they are about funding meritorious projects and saving tax dollars.
Until next year, the Democrats are still in control of the Congress and once again the Democrats have shown (although unfortunately supported by a disturbing number of Republicans) that they are not serious about listening to the will of the people by eliminating earmarks.
I know that the overall perception of earmarks is toxic. Americans realize that federal spending is out of control and that we must take action now to rein it in - and an earmark moratorium would have been a good way to start.
Recently, I had suggested to simply ban earmarks for the next 20 years. My reasoning is that Congress has already spent enough money for about the next 20 years, so that should just about catch them up. But if they won't go for 3 years, 20 years for sure isn't going to happen.
Many Democrats and some Republicans argue that earmarks are only a pebble in the sand of wasteful government spending. But we must start somewhere. In fact, I believe that anything we can do to reduce spending immediately will be helpful. As the late Senate leader Everett Dirksen put it, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
The Senate, with a vote of 56 to 39 rejected the motion. Sadly, there were 8 Republican Senators who voted against the motion.
Consistently casting votes like this is an indication that our politicians in Washington are more interested in bringing the pork back to their states and districts than they are about funding meritorious projects and saving tax dollars.
Until next year, the Democrats are still in control of the Congress and once again the Democrats have shown (although unfortunately supported by a disturbing number of Republicans) that they are not serious about listening to the will of the people by eliminating earmarks.
I know that the overall perception of earmarks is toxic. Americans realize that federal spending is out of control and that we must take action now to rein it in - and an earmark moratorium would have been a good way to start.
Recently, I had suggested to simply ban earmarks for the next 20 years. My reasoning is that Congress has already spent enough money for about the next 20 years, so that should just about catch them up. But if they won't go for 3 years, 20 years for sure isn't going to happen.
Many Democrats and some Republicans argue that earmarks are only a pebble in the sand of wasteful government spending. But we must start somewhere. In fact, I believe that anything we can do to reduce spending immediately will be helpful. As the late Senate leader Everett Dirksen put it, "A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money."
Yesterday Gov. Mike Huckabee was on FBN's The Willis Report and talked about how congress has not extended the Bush tax cuts and how this has caused much angst amongst small business owners.
* Congress is busy getting nothing done.
* We are not sure what the cost of doing business is next year.
* Marriage penalty on Mom and Pop style businesses.
* On extending unemployment benefits-It's not about extending a hand, its extending the RIGHT hand.
* Healthcare costs, Regulations, New EPA regulations are going to wipe out small businesses.
* On politics of extending Bush Tax cuts-its Extending the current tax rates that already exists, not giving away anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment