As the Presidential primary season heats up, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released its earmark candidate challenge.  The passage of the fiscal 2008 omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 2764, reminds taxpayers and politicians alike about Washington's addiction to earmarks.  There are 19 organizations and individuals that have co-signed a letter to President Bush urging him to issue an executive order telling federal agencies to ignore earmarks in the House and Senate Appropriations committee reports. 

      "The omnibus bill contains more than 9,000 pork-barrel projects costing taxpayers at least $7.5 billion," said CCAGW President Tom Schatz.  "The American people are fed up with this wasteful spending and are demanding that earmarks be eliminated from the federal budget.  President Bush has an opportunity to cut the earmarks through an executive order, and taxpayers deserve to know where the presidential candidates stand."

      CCAGW is challenging each presidential candidate to state whether or not he or she would issue an executive order on earmarks.  Such projects have no legal meaning unless they are written into the legislation itself.  A December 18 Congressional Research Service report on earmarks stated that "because the language of committee reports do not meet the procedural requirements of Article I of the Constitution - specifically, bicameralism and presentment - they are not laws and, therefore, are not legally binding on executive agencies."

      "Many candidates over the past two years have talked about eliminating wasteful spending.  If they commit themselves to signing an executive order on earmarks, it would demonstrate to citizens across the country that they are serious about fixing 'the broken and corrupt appropriations machine,' as stated in the joint letter to President Bush.  If the candidates refuse to commit themselves to issuing an executive order, taxpayers deserve to know what else they would to eliminate earmarks," added Schatz.

      CCAGW also today released the lifetime Congressional Ratings for the presidential candidates.  A member of Congress with a rating of 80-100 is considered to be a "Taxpayer Hero," while a rating of 0-20 is considered "hostile."  A full description of the ratings is available at www.ccagw.org.

Lifetime Congressional Ratings

Biden               23

Clinton             10

Dodd                15

Edwards           14         

Hunter              69

Kucinich           11

McCain             88

Obama              22

Paul                  82

Thompson          84

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.