CAGW to Chairman Obey: "Just Do It".

WASHINGTON -- Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today encouraged House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) to follow through on his threat to eliminate all earmarks. According to a December 5 CQ Today article, Rep. Obey is getting sick and tired of the bickering over the appropriations bills: "I've had it with earmarks. As far as I'm concerned, we can take every single one of them out."

"Chairman Obey has finally come around to our way of thinking; now it is time for action," said CAGW President Tom Schatz. "Taxpayers are sick and tired of earmarks. They have been paying through the nose for this self-serving waste to the tune of 79,079 projects costing $254 billion since CAGW issued the first Congressional Pig Book in 1991. It would be a perfect holiday gift for Chairman Obey to move beyond the partisan rhetoric and follow the Nike slogan: 'Just Do It!'"

The backdrop of Chairman Obey's comments is the ongoing battle between Congress and the White House on the appropriations bills. So far, only the fiscal 2008 Defense Appropriations Act has been signed into law, and the other 11 bills face a December 14 deadline when a continuing resolution to fund government agencies will expire. Democrats announced a plan to split the difference between their total appropriations spending and the president's budget request - a gap that now stands at $23 billion. The president has vowed to veto any spending bill that goes over his request but Democrats are working overtime to attract enough Republicans over to their side to keep their pork and overcome a veto.

This is not the first time Chairman Obey has expressed a desire to chop earmarks to reach a budget solution, but it goes beyond his previous remarks. CongressDailyPM on November 30 reported that he "is proposing to cut earmarks in the remaining 11 FY08 spending bills by another 50 percent - on top of a bicameral agreement to reduce spending on local projects by 40 percent from two years ago. But Senate Democrats are balking, and even House Appropriations subcommittee chairmen were taken by surprise, according to aides and lobbyists." The article cited one source who said, "members care more about their projects" than funding programs.

Chairman Obey has been feeling the heat ever since his plan to keep earmarks secret until closed-door conference committee meetings between the House and Senate to reconcile spending bills failed in June. Outrage from the media, constituents, bloggers, and watchdog groups like CAGW, and procedural roadblocks from House Republicans forced the leadership to agree to list earmarks with the bills.

"Instead of shamelessly scrambling for their next piece of pork, members

of Congress should address the priorities of the nation as a whole by ending earmarks and reducing spending to the president's levels in the appropriations bills," concluded Schatz.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.