SENATOR JOHN McCAIN URGES PRESIDENT OBAMA TO MOVE FORWARD ON ANTI-EARMARK INITIATIVE
December 1, 2011

Washington, D.C.­ — U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) today sent a letter to President Obama urging him to move forward on the Administration’s proposed initiative to require executive agencies to publicize requests made by Members of Congress for special consideration for their pet projects, in light of the Washington Post report this week detailing Members’ attempts over the last few months to pack hundreds of potential earmarks into 10 bills, despite the moratorium on earmarks agreed to by congressional leaders.

Full letter below and attached:

December 1, 2011

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I was pleased to learn from a recent article in National Journal that you intend to require that executive agencies publicize requests made by Members of Congress for special consideration for their pet projects. A Washington Post article also highlighted this systemic problem by detailing how Members of Congress attempted to pack hundreds of potential earmarks into at least 10 bills over the last few months — less than a year after congressional leaders declared a moratorium on earmarks. I fully support this initiative as an important step towards ultimately eliminating congressional earmarks and protecting the American taxpayer by promoting transparency and accountability in government.

Despite the arguably feeble moratorium on earmarks Congress recently self-imposed and the Administration’s purported commitment to subject all earmarks to competitive or other merit-based processes, there can be no doubt that attempts by some Members to pressure agencies directly, informally and often secretly subvert even these modest efforts. As you know, I strongly support an outright ban on all unauthorized pork-barrel projects. That having been said, the proposed initiative reflects the inherently corrupting influence of earmarks in government; takes an important step towards the promise you made in the State of the Union Address last year, to publish all earmark requests on a single website; and reflects the intent of S.3335, the Earmark Transparency Act of 2010, which Senator Coburn, Senator Feingold, Senator Gillibrand and I introduced. It is, therefore, worth embracing and doing without delay.

Your proposed initiative would have immediate value by closing a loophole in the current earmark ban by injecting much needed sunlight into a process that has to date been cloaked in secrecy. The implementation of this initiative would help make good on the promise for an earmarking database you made almost two years ago. The fiscal urgency that warrants openness in how the government makes decisions to spend the taxpayers’ money exists now.

Please know that I intend to offer legislation that would ensure that the reported initiative is in fact implemented.

In the current climate of fiscal austerity and restraint, the urgency of implementing such a process cannot be overstated. We can no longer spend limited tax dollars on pet projects, therefore, I would encourage you to act now and direct department and agency heads to report these costly and wasteful earmarks.

Sincerely,

John McCain

United States Senator