Washington, Jan 29, 2008 -

On the heels of the President’s State of the Union address in which he challenged Congress to bring more accountability to government spending, Representative Carter (TX-31) reiterates his call for House Democrats to join House Republicans to fundamentally reform the way Congress does earmarks and adopt an immediate moratorium on all earmarks while these reforms are being considered.

“I was glad the President mentioned earmarks,” Carter said.  “Congress has an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we do business in Washington by reforming the earmark process.  Washington is broken, and House Republicans have challenged the Democrats to join us and reform the earmark process to stop wasteful government spending.  I hope they will heed the desire of the American people and work with us.”

Last Friday, Republican leaders sent Speaker Pelosi (D-CA) a letter calling on her to join House Republicans and adopting an immediate moratorium on earmarks and to appoint a bipartisan, bicameral joint committee to reform the earmark process.  The GOP leaders asked Speaker Pelosi to respond to the request by February 1, 2008-the end of the House Democratic Caucus retreat.  In the letter, House Republicans also outlined a series of earmark reform standards they will adopt immediately, including:

• No more “monuments to me.”  Lawmakers should not use taxpayer money to fund projects named after themselves.

• No more “airdrops.”  The process by which Congress spends the American people’s money should be completely transparent.  Members of Congress should not circumvent transparency by airdropping earmarks into bills after the Congress already voted on the bill.

• No “fronts” (no pass-through entities).  Taxpayer funds should not be laundered through “front” operations that mask their true recipients.

• Members of Congress who request earmarks should put forth a plan detailing exactly how the money will be spent and why they believe the use of taxpayer funding is justified.  Members of Congress who “secure” earmarks should place these plans in the Congressional Record well in advance of floor votes on those earmarks.

• To improve accountability, Members of Congress should require outside earmark recipients to put up “matching funds” where applicable so that American taxpayers do not bear all the risk for such expenditures and to prove that there is local support for the project.

• The Executive Branch should be held accountable for its own earmark practices.  The Executive Branch asks for earmarks, too, and has done so under administrations Democratic and Republican alike.  Members of Congress should hold present and future Administrations accountable for the way in which taxpayer-funded earmarks are used.