    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
    [January 29, 2008]
    [Page 128]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Executive Order on Protecting American Taxpayers
    From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks
    January 29, 2008

        Director Nussle, thank you. Before I
    sign the Executive order on earmarks, I do want to congratulate the
    House of Representatives for overwhelmingly passing a economic growth
    package that will help our economy. The temptation is going to be for
    the Senate to load it up. My concerns is that we need to get this bill
    out of the Senate and on my desk so the checks can get in the hands of
    our consumers and our businesses can be assured of the incentives
    necessary to make investments.
        Anyway, I do want to thank the Speaker and
    Leader Boehner for working quickly and
    working in a bipartisan fashion. This is a very good start.
        And now I'm going to sign this Executive order. Last night I said
    that it's very important for Congress to earn the trust of the American
    taxpayer, and one way they should do so is to end the practice of
    earmarks. Now, I said last year that they should voluntarily cut the
    number in half--not only the number but the amount of earmarks in half.
    They chose not to do so. So last night I told the Congress that I would
    veto any bill, appropriations bill, that does not cut the number and the
    amount of earmarks in half.
        Secondly, there's a practice here in Washington--and I'm not sure
    many of our citizens understand it takes place--where Members just put
    in special spending projects into what's called report language. That
    means that these projects never were voted on, never really saw the
    light of day. And this Executive order says that any such earmarks this
    year and into the future will be ignored by this administration and,
    hopefully, future administrations, unless those spending projects were
    voted on by the Congress.
        The American people expect there to be transparency in the process.
    They expect the people to be--here in Washington to be wise about how
    they spend their money. And this Executive order will go a long way
    toward sending that signal to the Congress and, at the same time,
    earning the trust of the American people.
        So, Mr. Director, thank you for your
    leadership on the issue. It was the right course of action to take, and
    I am proud to have signed the Executive order. Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:38 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Office of Management and Budget
    Director James A. Nussle. He also referred to Executive Order 13457,
    which is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume.