Earmarks

Last week, I voted twice against the nearly $1 trillion Wall Street bailout bill in the U.S. House. The first bill (with a $700 billion price tag for taxpayers) failed with an overwhelming bipartisan majority.  Then the Senate passed a second version that was loaded with tax “sweeteners” in an attempt to attract enough lawmakers in the House who voted “Nay” the first time around to switch their vote to pass the bill. That jacked the price tag up to $810 billion.  You’ve got to love Washington.

We were supposed to be voting on a financial bailout bill, but unfortunately we got much, much more.

Michele Bachmann wrote an op-ed in the Washington Examiner today.  The piece, entitled "I gave up earmarks; why can’t other members of Congress?"  was regarding earmarks and federal spending.

She writes, "Congress has yet to make reducing federal spending a priority. With the recent release of an analysis of this year’s congressional earmarks in House appropriation bills, it can still be said that Washington loves to spend the taxpayers’ money.