Washington, Feb 7, 2008 -

House Democrats today blocked a vote on earmark reform that would have fundamentally changed the way Congress does earmarks by adopting an immediate moratorium on all earmarks while new reforms are being considered.  Representative Carter made the following statement:
 
“Today, Congress had an opportunity to fundamentally change the way we do business in Washington by reforming the earmark process.  Unfortunately, Nancy Pelosi and her liberal allies refused to allow the House of Representatives to vote on this reform and fix the broken earmark process.

“The American people expect this Congress to mend a broken Washington, and we need to begin with the earmark process, the poster child of a corrupt Washington.  Republicans have made it very clear that the war for true earmark reform will not stop today.  We will continue to force votes on this issue until the earmark process is fixed for good.”

NOTE: 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.