Washington, DC – Congressman Randy Neugebauer, a member of the fiscally conservative Republican Study Committee, was part of a successful effort by House Republicans to shine light on how Congress spends taxpayer dollars.

House Democratic leaders had planned to insert earmarks into the annual spending bills after they were voted on by the full House.  This would have meant that members of the House would be voting on spending bills without full knowledge of how that money would be spent.  In response to this plan, Neugebauer and others took to the House floor throughout the week in support of transparency.

“By passing a budget that increases spending by $23 billion this year alone, it is clear that the Democrats plan to go on a spending spree with taxpayer dollars,” said Neugebauer.  “In addition, they had plans to hide how they are going to spend millions of dollars by not disclosing earmarks in the House spending bills.  It was important that we stand against this effort and demand a process that is transparent and open to the American public.”

As a result of the efforts by House Republicans, the Democratic leadership agreed to bring future spending bills to the floor with all earmarks included.

“I am glad that our work paid off, but now it is important that we follow it up by submitting these earmarks to public scrutiny and working to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding wasteful projects,” said Neugebauer