Mississippi Senators Vote To Keep Earmark Spending

If Congress gives up the responsibility to direct spending then who gets all that authority? The White House. No thanks. This is a knee jerk reaction by the GOP and they should stop and think about what they're giving up in order to be popular. READ the DAMN Constitution folks!

U.S. Senator Thad Cochran is one the most profilic users of earmark spending. The U.S. Senate has decided to vote down a proposed earmark spending ban. MPB’s Phoebe Judge reports on the reaction from two of the greatest users of earmark spending, Mississippi’s own U.S. Senators.

Mississippi’s senior senator republican Thad Cochran led the senate with just under $500 million dollars in earmarks in this year’s spending bills. The proposed ban would have created a one year moratorium on earmark spending, a practice which opponents often describe as pork spending, meaning senators sending federal money back to their home states for their pet projects. But Senator Cochran says it is their constitutional responsibility to make known how federal dollars should be spent,

“To say that the Congress shouldn’t have the power to direct federal dollars to be spent in specific ways is an abrogation of congressional power that is vested in the constitution in the Congress.”

Only 15 Republicans joined the majority of Democrats in voting down the moratorium, including Senator Cochran, and Mississippi’s junior Senator Roger Wicker. Wicker said in a statement, that while he was in favor shrinking the federal budget once spending levels are determined, 'elected officials should be able to direct spending to projects with the most need and potential for economic impact.'

Last week House Republicans did impose an earmark ban, and House Democrats declared earmark spending should not longer go to for profit companies.

 

MPB