Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today named all 171 members of Congress who voted against the disclosure of earmarks Porkers of the Month.  On September 14, the House voted 245-171 for an internal rule change (H.R. 1000) to require that all earmarks and their sponsors to be identified in spending, tax, and authorization bills. 

“The House took a serious step toward opening up the earmarking process,” CAGW President Tom Schatz said.  “More remains to be done to end the abuse of earmarks, but that is no reason for voting against what is clearly an improvement over the status quo.”

Of the 171 votes against the resolution, 147 were from Democrats, many protesting that the new rule would not do enough.  However, Democrats purposefully packed their own amendment with regulations until it was certain to fail, even within their own party.  Changes to House rules would only be in effect through the end of the current Congress, although House leaders have indicated that it would be renewed at the start of the new term.  The House rule would also have no effect on the Senate’s earmark procedure, but rule changes in the House could spur similar action in the Senate.

Twenty-two of the 24 nay votes from Republicans were members of the Appropriations Committee, famous for its swollen earmarks, although not all on the committee opposed the measure.  Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) had complained that the new requirement singled out appropriations bills but said that he would not whip the vote.  Most earmarks are quietly slipped into spending bills by individual appropriators without debate.  The 2006 Congressional Pig Book identified 9,963 pork projects costing a record $29 billion in the fiscal 2006 appropriations bills.

Former Porkers of the Month Hobson, Mollohan, Peterson, Regula, Walsh, and Young all opposed the new House rule.  (I’ll look up all their names and states if you confirm you want this in the release)

“Much of the Democrat opposition is rooted in a strategy to rob the majority of any legislative victory in an election year.  It is shameful that partisan politics and self-interest influence what should be a no-brainer vote for transparency and accountability.  For ignoring taxpayer outrage over the voting against earmark reform, CAGW names the 171 ‘nay’ voters Porkers of the Month for September 2006.

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the nation’s largest nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.  Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.