Op-Eds :: September 20, 2007

Watching Over Spending Is Our Job [Miller, Lampson]

Letter to the Editor

As published in The Washington Post

We were surprised to read the article by John Solomon and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum ["Pet Projects' Veil Is Only Partly Lifted," front page, Sept. 9] about congressional efforts to influence executive branch spending. The article implied that efforts by Congress to influence federal spending were unseemly, if not actually corrupt.

No, it's our job.

The article specifically cited public hearings that we conducted on the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory as an example of Congress's devious tactics. The administration's effort to close the renowned ecology research lab is one we should question. We have also questioned the efforts to shutter the Environmental Protection Agency's libraries and the decision to drop environmental sensors from weather and climate satellites. The administration's answers to our questions about these decisions were stunningly unconvincing and at times just not credible.

Our efforts are not to direct federal "pork" to our districts. The Savannah River lab is on the border of South Carolina and Georgia, nowhere near either of our districts.

We honestly believe that these administration funding decisions are shortsighted, and it is our duty to spend federal funds as effectively as possible to meet our nation's needs.