[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 58 (Thursday, April 22, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               INTRODUCTION OF EARMARK REFORM RESOLUTION

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                           HON. BOB GOODLATTE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 22, 2010

  Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce a Resolution that 
expresses the will of Congress to save taxpayer money and reduce the 
deficit.
  Madam Speaker, Thomas Jefferson once wrote: ``To preserve [the] 
independence [of the people,] we must not let our rulers load us with 
perpetual debt. We must make our election between economy and liberty, 
or profusion and servitude.''
  As my colleagues may know, according to the Congressional Budget 
Office, the federal deficit is $655 billion through the first five 
months of FY 2010. This is $65 billion or 11.0% above the deficit 
through the first five months of FY 2009--which ended up with the 
highest deficit in U.S. history ($1.4 trillion).
  In these challenging economic times it is even more important for 
government to control spending. Congress must control spending, paving 
the way for a return to surpluses and ultimately paying down the 
national debt, rather than allow big spenders to lead us further down 
the road of chronic deficits and in doing so leave our children and 
grandchildren saddled with debt that is not their own.
  Unfortunately, the federal budget deficit is projected to exceed $1 
trillion for the next two fiscal years and hover around $800 billion 
annually for the foreseeable future. These current levels of spending 
are simply unsustainable.
  That is why I am proud that the Republican Conference recently 
adopted a party rule that instills a year-long moratorium on Members 
obtaining ``earmarks'' in the FY2011 appropriations process. The 
earmark process is broken and is in desperate need of reform.
  While I am pleased that the Republican Conference has adopted a one-
year earmark moratorium, the simple fact is that our policy will not 
save the taxpayers a dime unless Democrats reduce spending by the 
amount saved by the Republican moratorium. Otherwise, they will be able 
to just spend the money saved by the Republican earmark ban on their 
own Democratic earmarks.
  Madam Speaker, the American people want earmark reform because they 
want to rein in out-of-control spending. In order to actually help 
achieve this goal, I am introducing this resolution today with 
virtually all of my Republican colleagues. Specifically, our 
resolution:
  ``Expresses the sense of Congress that House Democrats should join 
House Republicans in a total ban on earmarks for one year, that total 
discretionary spending should be reduced by the amount saved by earmark 
moratoriums and that a bipartisan, bicameral committee should be 
created to review and overhaul the budgetary, spending and earmark 
processes.''
  I hope that all Members of the House will join House Republicans in 
supporting this resolution and thus commit ourselves to the will of the 
American people to eliminate every cent of waste and squeeze every cent 
of value out of each hard-earned taxpayer dollar.

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