[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 12, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H15321-H15322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                EARMARKS

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Madam Speaker, at some point this week, Congress is going 
to consider a massive omnibus spending bill that rolls the 11 remaining 
appropriation bills into one enormous bill.
  I wish I could take the floor today and talk about what's in the 
floor bill, but I can't, because I have no idea. I'm far from alone. 
Save for a few Members of leadership, all of us are in the dark

[[Page H15322]]

about what could be in this massive bill that we're going to be voting 
on in just a matter of hours. With the likelihood of thousands and 
thousands of earmarks in the bill, our constituents deserve a process 
that, at the very least, Members have an opportunity to read the bill 
before we vote on it.
  Now, the majority argues that such tactics are no more egregious than 
those that Republicans employed during our years in the majority. That 
may be true, but I would remind my colleagues that that's one of the 
reasons we find ourselves in the minority today. This institution 
deserves far better.

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