Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) today applauded the Senate Republican conference for voting to approve his amendment to extend the chamber’s moratorium on earmarking into the 115^th Congress. Flake has also announced plans to introduce legislation that will establish a permanent statutory ban on congressional earmarks.

“The successful vote to extend the earmark moratorium is an encouraging sign that Senate Republicans are serious about making a dent in our nearly $20 trillion national debt,” said Flake.

Background:

• Today, Flake (R-Ariz.) today released Wastebook: PORKémon Go, highlighting 50 examples of outrageous and wasteful federal spending amounting to more than $5 billion. This is Flake’s second edition of the Wastebook series, started by retired Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.). Among the 50 examples of egregious federal spending uncovered in Flake’s 2017 report are a program that accepts peanuts for loan repayments, a computer that binge-watches Desperate Housewives, and a study into what happens when you put a fish on a treadmill. Click here to view to report.
  
  
• In May 2016, Flake released Twenty Questions: Government Studies That Will Leave You Scratching Your Head. This oversight report highlights 20 hard-to-justify, taxpayer-funded studies that cost taxpayers more than $35 million. Along with the report, Flake introduced the Federal Research Transparency and Accountability Act, to ensure federal research dollars are better directed towards supporting transformative science while rooting out unnecessary spending on lower priority projects.
  
  
• In December 2015, Flake released Wastebook: The Farce Awakens, an oversight report highlighting 100 examples of wasteful government spending that totaled over $100 billion.
  
  
• In November 2015, Flake joined U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in releasing Tackling Paid Patriotism, a report on their joint investigation of taxpayer-funded payments by the Department of Defense to professional sports teams for patriotic displays honoring the U.S. military. This practice has now been banned due to an amendment that Flake, McCain, and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) added to the National Defense Authorization Act.
  
  
• In June 2015, Flake responded to calls for a return to the practice of congressional earmarking by releasing Jurassic Pork, a report highlighting the continued cost of pork projects in the post-earmark-ban era. The report, along with Flake’s Jurassic Pork Act, help lead to the elimination of long-term, unobligated transportation earmarks – also called orphan earmarks – in the 2016 omnibus.
  
  
• In December 2014, Flake published the Science of Splurging, a report highlighting more than a dozen examples of wasteful and egregious spending by the Environmental Protection Agency.
  
  
• Additional ongoing efforts by Flake to highlight and eliminate wasteful federal spending include PorkChops, Deep Thoughts from Taxpayer-Funded Studies, and WasteLine.
  
  
• As a member of the House of Representatives, Flake highlighted an Egregious Earmark of the Week from 2003 to 2010. The series concluded when Congress enacted the current self-imposed moratorium on congressional earmarks.

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