[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 26284]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             EARMARK REFORM

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, it's no secret that earmarks are not fairly 
distributed. But with the new disclosure rules in place this year, for 
the first time it's been documented. In an analysis of House-passed 
appropriation bills, CQ Weekly and Taxpayers for Common Sense found 
that a disproportionate share of earmarks went to relatively few 
Members of Congress.
  Now, obviously Federal priorities are not concentrated in the 
districts of appropriators and leadership. Those Members are simply in 
a better position to steer Federal money home. That's hardly a 
defensible way of spending taxpayer money.
  I've often said that we had higher aspirations when we were elected 
than to grovel for crumbs that fall from the appropriators' table. But 
given the lopsided share of earmarks that appropriators got this year, 
here's hoping that enough Members will finally say, why bother, and we 
can finally end this practice.

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