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Originally Posted by Derwood
not all pork projects are bad. i bet folks in Arizona wouldn't mind McCain getting them a little money for roads and bridges now and again
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I agree that all earmarks are not bad....its the process that stinks. Earmarks should be much more transparent and directly tied to specific legislation and not slipped into larger spending bills.
I would also add that McCain's "no pork" record is a tad disingenuous. As I understand it, he just gives his list of "must have" pet projects to some of the Republican House members from Arizona and they take the hit for it. But Arizona is still at the bottom of the list, right there with two big blue states:
I am disappointed that the Democrats did not enact real earmark reform. They did at least impose a new requirement that Members must include their name on earmark requests with a justification of why its needed and not just slip them into appropriation bills in the middle of the night as has been done for years. The Republicans voted against it.
Pelosi said she will make stronger reform a priority this year (we'll see), but it could be a good election year issue.