Washington, D.C. – The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today released the text of a letter the organization sent on July 10^th to all members of the U.S. Senate urging them to support the efforts by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to bring overdue earmark reform to the appropriations process in the Senate: 

            Three times this year, March 29, April 17, and July 9, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) asked for unanimous consent to adopt S. Res. 123 (the earmark disclosure rule) when the Senate was voting on legislation.  In both instances, the effort to adopt the resolution raised an objection.  What is peculiar about the objections is that the provisions in S. Res. 123 have already been accepted as an amendment to S. 1, the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act of 2007.  The Senate should accept S. 123 immediately as a rule.

            The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) believes one reason why this resolution is not being accepted is that some members will seek to remove or severely weaken the earmark reform provisions contained in S. 1 when the conference committee on lobbying reform meets.  Because of these actions to stop earmark reform, CCAGW supports Sen. DeMint’s effort to block S. 1 from going to a conference committee until S. Res. 123 gets passed as a stand alone Senate resolution.

            Sen. DeMint also has introduced S. Res. 260, which would prohibit earmarks from being “air-dropped” into a conference report.  This measure would allow senators to raise a point of order to remove any earmarks that are not contained in the House or Senate versions of a bill.  Just as the provisions in S. Res. 123 were accepted as an amendment to S. 1, the provisions in S. Res. 260 were also adopted as an amendment by unanimous consent.  If the Senate is sincere about earmark reform, it should adopt both S. Res. 123 and S. Res. 260.

            Cleary, whether the Senate chooses to enact S. Res. 123 and S. Res. 260 will help determine whether or not the new leadership in Congress means what it says about reform and being the most ethical Congress ever.  We urge you and your colleagues to refrain from objecting to Sen. DeMint’s request and to immediately adopt both S. 123 and S. Res. 260.

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.