President Bush may have promised to veto any spending bill that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half, but as commentators were quick to point out, since Democrats are planning on holding back spending bills till the next President takes office, the threat is virtually worthless. Equally unhelpful is the White House’s Executive Order directing federal agencies to ignore future earmarks included in committee reports but not in the voted on legislation. The next President could issue a new Executive Order his (or her) first second …
Just days after releasing a plan to reduce government spending, Fred Thompson continued his assault on earmarks, promising today that if elected president he would sign an executive order canceling lawmakers’ pork-barrel projects. President Bush is considering the idea, which is strongly opposed by congressional appropriators but supported by fiscal conservatives. Thompson fielded questions from bloggers during a conference call this afternoon. He was asked if he would issue an executive order instructing federal agencies to ignore the nearly 10,000 earmarks in the omnibus spending bill that was enacted in …
A day after his victory in the New Hampshire primary, Sen. John McCain spoke with bloggers about a variety of issues, including the option of a presidential executive order canceling earmarks in the omnibus spending bill. Erick Erickson of RedState posed the question to the Arizona senator, who has long been a critic of pork-barrel spending. Here is the exchange, courtesy of Jim Geraghty of National Review: Erick Erickson: Senator Coburn wants investigation into Don Young’s appropriation got back into bill after it had been stripped out. Would you support …
Heritage’s Mike Franc breaks down the debate over pork-barrel spending and makes the case for President Bush to end earmarks in our latest Heritage in Focus video. Franc highlights one of the nearly 10,000 earmarks in the omnibus bill: a gas station in the Ohio district of Rep. Dave Hobson.
Picking up on the theme laid out by Heritage’s Mike Franc last week in Human Events, today John Fund writes in the Wall Street Journal about President Bush’s legacy on fiscal responsibility: This week President Bush will make one of the most important decisions of his remaining time in office. It won’t get headlines or lead the news, but it could play a major role in deciding whether this country ever gets any kind of grip on the constantly growing federal budget. Fund’s column comes at a critical moment. The …
