Posted on 12/02/2010 10:11:37 AM PST by worst-case scenario
Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.
According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.
"It's disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt," said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. "There's going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks
(Excerpt) Read more at hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com ...
was this BEFORE or since the election? Makes a difference..... the tea party caucus does not consist of members who have NEVER ask for an earmark
Still, no reason not to throw them out next.
NAME EARMARKS AMOUNT
Aderholt (R-AL) 69 $78,263,000
Akin (R-MO) 9 $14,709,000
Alexander (R-LA) 41 $65,395,000
Bachmann (R-MN) 0 0
Barton (R-TX) 14 $12,269,400
Bartlett (R-MD) 19 $43,060,650
Bilirakis (R-FL) 14 $13,600,000
R. Bishop (R-UT) 47 $93,980,000
Burgess (R-TX) 15 $15,804,400
Broun (R-GA) 0 0
Burton (R-IN) 0 0
Carter (R-TX) 26 $42,232,000
Coble (R-NC) 19 $18,755,000
Coffman (R-CO) 0 0
Crenshaw (R-FL) 37 $54,424,000
Culberson (R-TX) 22 $33,792,000
Fleming (R-LA) 10 $31,489,000
Franks (R-AZ) 8 $14,300,000
Gingrey (R-GA) 19 $16,100,000
Gohmert (R-TX) 15 $7,099,000
S. Graves (R-MO) 11 $8,331,000
R. Hall (R-TX) 16 $12,232,000
Harper (R-MS) 25 $80,402,000
Herger (R-CA) 5 $5,946,000
Hoekstra (R-MI) 9 $6,392,000
Jenkins (R-KS) 12 $24,628,000
S. King (R-IA) 13 $6,650,000
Lamborn (R-CO) 6 $16,020,000
Luetkemeyer (R-MO) 0 0
Lummis (R-WY) 0 0
Marchant (R-TX) 0 0
McClintock (R-CA) 0 0
Gary Miller (R-CA) 15 $19,627,500
Jerry Moran (R-KS) 22 $19,400,000
Myrick (R-NC) 0 0
Neugebauer (R-TX) 0 0
Pence (R-IN) 0 0
Poe (R-TX) 12 $7,913,000
T. Price (R-GA) 0 0
Rehberg (R-MT) 88 $100,514,200
Roe (R-TN) 0 0
Royce (R-CA) 7 $6,545,000
Scalise (R-LA) 20 $17,388,000
P. Sessions (R-TX) 0 0
Shadegg (R-AZ) 0 0
Adrian Smith (R-NE) 1 $350,000
L. Smith (R-TX) 18 $14,078,000
Stearns (R-FL) 17 $15,472,000
Tiahrt (R-KS) 39 $63,400,000
Wamp (R-TN) 14 $34,544,000
Westmoreland (R-GA) 0 0
Wilson (R-SC) 15 $23,334,000
TOTAL 764 $1,049,783,150
Correction: This post has been updated to reflect earmarks requested by Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO). We initially attributed them to Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA), who was not in Congress during FY 2010.
17 of them requested no earmarks.
In spite of your inability to understand sarcasm, you should understand that the "Tea Part Caucus" was established long before this year's election.
This article refers to members of the Tea Party Caucus not the incoming freshman class that will not take office until January 2011. (I hope this helps)
there is. Michelle Bachmann formed it in the House officially in July.
Yes, I was mentally excluding them from my scorn, but wasn't clear in my post.
Well there are members of Congress who have signed onto the TP Caucus and took these earmarks, so it’s not *just* BS - I agree with the guy who says “We’ll be watching them.”
Disappointment no the key word is Congressional it’s just congress being congress more purging is required to clean the joint up.
I get it Gargantua...You’re actually Todd right?...or possibly the mother of the Halibut that Sarah caught.
Lighten up
Let the count begin on the day they pledged “no more earmarks”. Let’s look forward, not backwards.
Furthermore, let’s remember that it’s important to vote NO for ANY bill that contains ANY earmarks. Our “You Will Be Voted Out” list must also include any YES votes for bills that contain other people’s earmarks. It’s not enough anymore to just be able to say you didn’t request any earmarks.
This is not just about requesting earmarks, it’s about the inherent corruption and bribery of the earmark scheme.
“If the people we elect to get rid of the bums turn out to be bums themselves, what can we do?”
What can we do, indeed! How ‘bout studying the Constitution?
Congress holds the purse strings. Better an elected CongressCritter than an unelected, faceless, nameless, snot of a bureaucrap making decisions about spending OUR money.
Maybe not, but the media is already smearing him/her. See how that works? The left never rests, and they don’t let facts get in the way of their agenda.
But all the Congresscritter can do is vote on the budget amount - they don’t administer it or create all the administrative rules. That’s what the bureaucrats are hired for, as you know. So the bureaucrats end up making the decisions, anyway.
What a freaking lie this article is!! WHO are the TEA PARTY MEMBERS that have been sworn in already?
Here is the link to Bachman’s Tea Party Caucus page. It lists all the *present* Congresspeople signed onto the TPC as of JULY 2010. They have *all* been sworn in. The article is NOT referring to new members, but to PRESENT members. You could read it.
http://bachmann.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=199440
I guess I’m a little more worried about the 14 trillion in debt, and 100+ trillion in unfunded liabilities. But that’s just me...
A deal: take a billion if you promise to immediately defund every useless agency in sight.
Eh, Qbert, I agree! The earmarks refusal was just symbolic, thje Caucus admitted. But the earmarks have been the *personal* desires of the Congressmen, so this was a big perk to give up - the power to award a large government-funded project to a friend, or to a group whose support you want, must be intoxicating. So giving up earmarks is an intense personal sacrifice for these guys, and a sign of true commitment to Tea Party values, as opposed to just vote-seeking lip service.
The only problem with your preference is the question of whop decides what agencies are useless? How is the “useless” designation determined?
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