Phil to Dem Leaders: Don’t keep the public in the dark on earmarks
As reported earlier today (see below), the Democrat leadership has announced its intention to secretly insert earmarks into appropriations bills after the bills have been considered and voted on the House floor. Phil sharply criticized Democrat leaders for refusing to make earmarks public:
“Democrats are arguing secretive earmarks make the process more open and ethical. What twisted logic! Doling out earmarks behind closed doors – without any public scrutiny - isn’t open and ethical; it’s convoluted and irresponsible. Speaker Pelosi wants projects like the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ tucked into legislation by the dark of night, so no one can object to potential misuse of taxpayer dollars. While this may serve the interests of her caucus, it doesn’t serve the interests of our citizens. The merit of an earmark should be a matter of public discourse, not backroom wheeling and dealing.”
A little background: Congress debated the first of 12 appropriation bills today without any opportunity to discuss the merits of a single earmark. This change in policy not only reverses years of Republican commitment to an open earmark process, it violates House rules that state a list of earmarks must be published along with the correlating appropriations bill.
