Obama Team Draws Line: No Earmarks In Stimulus

Vice President-elect Joe Biden stressed on Tuesday that there would be no pet projects for lawmakers included in the stimulus bill that Barack Obama will sign upon taking office.

This piece of news, from the pool report on Biden's meeting with economic advisers, is a proverbial throwing down of the gauntlet to members of Congress.

"It's important for the American taxpayer to know that it's not - and I want emphasize this having served many years in the Senate -- this is not going to be politics as usual. And we will not tolerate business as usual in Washington. There will be -- I will say it again -- there will be no earmarks in this economic recovery plan. I know it's Christmas. I know it's the Christmas season. But President-elect Obama and I are absolutely determined that this economic recovery package will not become a Christmas tree. Every dollar will be watched to be sure it's used in an effective manner. We'll spend what we need to turn this economy around and no more. The American taxpayer deserves to know that his or her tax dollars are going be used wisely. And the American worker needs to know that help is actually on the way."

The Obama-Biden team has, in the past, stressed an anti-earmark message, especially on the campaign trail. But efforts to exclude pork from a potentially $1 trillion stimulus could be challenging. The bill will not be subjected to congressional pay-go rules. And sources on the Hill stress that members of Congress won't just hand over a blank check to the Obama administration without having a say in the legislation's construct. At the same time, as the Christian Science Monitor reports, Obama's transition team "points out that congressional leaders have vowed to keep the stimulus bill devoid of earmarks."

Regardless, the stimulus seems likely to be subject to stricter levels of transparency than financial packages and bailouts in the past -- even with the unprecedented sum of money likely to be spent. Larry Summers, one of the President-elect's top economic advisers and incoming head of the National Economic Council, vowed that there would even be Internet monitoring tools to track the spending.

Comments

[mergina]

Hey Obama team, DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO ANYTHING TO FIND OUT WHERE THAT 700 BILLION HAS GONE TO AND WHAT THE HELL THEY ARE DOING WITH IT? Oh yes, please retitle it 700 BILLION GRAND THEFT LARCENY, since nothing is being bailed out with it as those who received it make their getaway in 28 days.

[kasv]

Heh heh. Maybe they should appoint McCain the earmark remover for the Dems, and Feingold the earmark remover for the GOP.

[kasv]

I love it! Let's keep ALL those congress people honest - Dems and Pugs. Now we need the same transparency applied to the financial and insurance industries. I want to see internet tracking tools for them too.

[Cybersquirt]

now THAT is change I can believe in!

[Ron1951]

No earmarks? Good!

But as for transparency and accountability? Weren't we supposed to have this with TARP? I remember both presidential candidates emphasizing that their support was predicated on transparency and accountability. The repubs in the House insisted on the same, very publicly.

SO WHERE IS IT ALREADY?

[VOTER]

It was Bushed....­..........­..........­......

[akd262824]

i didnt vote for obama. i am conservati­ve.. if obama wants any support from me this had better be true.. but i am not holding my breath with pelosi, reid, frank, dodd etc etc etc.. and you can add some repubs to that also..

[michaelsmolder]

Thank you for your honesty, and almost snarky-free comment. But you won't get any real argument here with the heart of your message.

We're all up to our asses in alligators, and we're all in the same swamp. ...that Bush Co drove us into, and Obama is our only hope of pulling us out of !

[markinaz]

Yeah, good luck with that. No earmarks, no stimulus.

[edwcorey]

Is Biden stroking Summers's neck in the photo? Or is he reaching out to strangle him?

[indypete]

Do I smell a big heap of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" in the offing?

[theone718]

I am jewish when it comes to this stimulus,
no pork!!

[11907281]

Pork actually gets used in states and creates job, 350 billion in unregulated and unaccountable money to the greedy criminals who brought us this crisis is almost treasonous. Who really runs the country, politicians or the corporate criminals a.k.a "our owners" (some times they are one and the same, see Cheney)

[ThatOne4Me]

the stimulous package is pork

[beenn15]

Some people in here don't seem to understand that the bridges they're driving on everyday were built by pork. Almost every public project that creates jobs for them, their neighbors and friends... are pork. If our governors can't bring the pork home, they're not doing a good job. The question is whether they're taking into account the waste the occurs sometimes on unnecessary state projects. The stimulus package Pres.-elec­t Obama is talking about is pork, we just hope that the spending goes to necessary projects in states where it's needed the most.

How about rebuilding New Orleans?? If the show "Extreme makeover Home Ed." can build a house in 7 days, the government should be able to create a few thousand jobs by rebuilding NO fairly quickly.

[grata2ude]

One states pork is another states employment. But there surely has been way too much of it and it needs to stop.

[Kartoffel]

Yeah, disallowing earmaks will keep pork out of the stimulus package. Gimme a break. The actual meat and potatoes of the stimulus program itself will comprise the biggest porkfest since FDR. Even without earmarks it'll be a porklover's dream come true.

[NWBrunette]

Exactly. Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated, and often restated. Thank you.

[Kartoffel]

Seriously. The Obama administration is asking -- practically BEGGING, local politicians for projects to spend federal money, to the tune of about $800 billion. This will be pork on a grand scale. Forbidding earmarks is the proverbial lipstick on a pig.

[harriscrl3]

This is where Obama getting the state governors on his side might prove handy. If they SLOW IT DOWN they are only hurting the states that they represent and they will be called on it. States need this money the eonomy need this recovery those using it to further there agenda will be playing politics I have doubt Obama will call them on it and considering the mess this economy is in I doubt some of these congress members can afford to be seen as playing politics or obstructing economic progress.T­he American people will not be in any mood for personal porks and earmarks and there is nothing more shameful than a congressman stopping job creation simply becuase he wants to tag on his pet projects.

Carol

[VikingQuest]

"This is where Obama getting the state governors on his side might prove handy. If they SLOW IT DOWN they are only hurting the states that they represent and they will be called on it."

Maybe we need to realize that we need to slow down and we can't have everything we want.

BTW, after recent Governor events, what makes you think they are the right people to handle billions? Gov. Blago said I'll give you this contract & funding if you make a donation to my campaign.

[Carolab]

Right. It depends on the governor and their "connections". My governor is T Paw, for example. Maybe with Franken as my new senator he can have some influence over this, and we do have a Democratic majority in both houses of our state legislature.

[harriscrl3]

Yawn my dear in case you havent been paying notice the CORRUPTION IS IN WASHINGTON DC! Paulson the CROOK got 700 billion from Tax payers the only difference between Him and Blago is Blago is under INVESTIAGTION.

WAKE UP

Carol

[rogerse]

Just tell us where and how the money is being spent, we will see what is and isn't an earmark.

[VikingQuest]

Would you consider these as pork from this last year?

In Texas, $367,000 intended for reading instruction was spent on an inflatable alligator and waterslide.

In California, more than $9 million funding the search for aliens.

$24.6 Million on a National Park Service 100-year birthday party.

$4 Million to the Detroit Tigers old half demolished stadium they don’t use.

In California, $3 million for nutrition programs was instead spent on school district employee bonuses.


Google the "Coburn Report" and you'll see where our federal tax dollars go.

[rogerse]

Wow, thanks for proving my point with your pointless comment.

[VikingQuest]

Has anyone seen the list of pork in the money all the mayors were asking for? It is beyond stupidity.

Also, Obama better rethink his whole plan of giving this money out . . . letting Governors take a big pile of cash and spend may not be the best idea after recent events of Blago and holding back project money until he gets his donations.

[Kram]

The only stupid pork is republican war games waste for their Haliburton cronies. This country is collapsing rom republican theivery, and your angry at the citizens for trying to keep their local governments functioning. Where do people as clueless as you are come from?

[Carolab]

Some of the governors are not to be trusted. Look at Palin, for example.

[NWBrunette]

In my State all the right-wing conservatives are heating up their campaigns to grab a piece of the porkfest, for gargantuan, unnecessary, polluting projects. But they sure will line their pockets if they can get the money. Gee, I don't suppose anything like that is happening in any other State. We should definitely SLOW this thing down and do a real evaluation of projects before spreading more taxpayer money around.