There are $7.5 billion in unclaimed earmarks. That is, money approved to be spent but has not yet been claimed by the senators that sponsored them.

As a proposal to require full disclosure of all Senate earmarks languishes, senators have not claimed responsibility for at least $7.5 billion worth of projects approved by the Appropriations Committee, according to an analysis by a budget watchdog group.

An earmark in one of the spending bills approved by congress is a $1 million to build a hippie museum about Woodstock. Remember the 60’s? The sponsors of that one are Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer. That one was tucked in the Fiscal Year 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. Details of the 1016 earmarks in this bill, amounting to $392 million, are available at the Americans for Prosperity website.

Remember the ‘transparency’ in budgeting we were promised by Speaker Pelosi? She’s apparently having trouble with that too. Says Steve Ellis, vice-president of programs for a budget watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense. . .

“Part of the whole effort of transparency is to move the budget out of the shadows and into the light. The public deserves to know what Congress and the administration are doing with their tax dollars.”

Earmarks should not be a hidden piggy bank that our representatives can dip into. Can you say pick-pocket? Let the light shine in on earmarks.
Contact Your Representative to Stop Earmarks in Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations and everywhere else.

reference: Taxpayers for Common Sense

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