Tea Party demands more than a billion in earmarks

[Thanas]

Link

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."

In founding the caucus in July, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said she was giving voice to Americans who were sick of government over-spending.

"The American people are speaking out loud and clear. They have had enough of the spending, the bureaucracy, and the government knows best mentality running rampant today throughout the halls of Congress," Bachmann said in a July 15 statement. The group, she wrote in a letter to House Administration Committee chairman Bob Brady, "will serve as an informal group of Members dedicated to promote Americans' call for fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and limited government."

Bachmann and 13 of her Tea Party Caucus colleagues did not request any earmarks in the last Fiscal Year, according to CAGW's annual Congressional Pig Book. But others have requested millions of dollars in special projects.

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), for one, attached his name to 69 earmarks in the last fiscal year, for a total of $78,263,000. The 41 earmarks Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) requested were worth $65,395,000. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) wanted $63,400,000 for 39 special projects, and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) wanted $93,980,000 set aside for 47 projects.

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) takes the prize as the Tea Partier with his name on the most earmarks. Rehberg's office requested funding for 88 projects, either solely or by co-signing earmarks requests with Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D), at a cost of $100,514,200. On his own, Rehberg requested 20 earmarks valued at more than $9.6 million.

[Zixinus]

Earmarks? What? Can somebody please explain how the hell are these people supposed to get money from the government (obvious hypocrisity aside)? Isn't the tea-party privately funded?

[SCRawl]

Earmarks? What? Can somebody please explain how the hell are these people supposed to get money from the government (obvious hypocrisity aside)? Isn't the tea-party privately funded?

Earmarks are government spending that goes to a specific area. In these cases, the spending being discussed went towards the districts in which the Tea Party caucus members were elected. The gist of the article is that the Tea Party -- and "Tea" is an acronym for "Taxed Enough Already" -- really like to talk about cutting spending because taxes are too high, but not if that spending can help them "bring home the bacon" to their home states.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Earmarks? What? Can somebody please explain how the hell are these people supposed to get money from the government (obvious hypocrisity aside)? Isn't the tea-party privately funded?

The article is talking about the Republicans already in Congress who have joined the "Tea Party" caucus. They may have been willing to talk the talk for the 50% of Republican voters who are drooling, brain-damaged, morons; but for the 50% of Republican voters who aren't, and for the fence-sitters and registered Democrats who also voted for these people . . . these Congresscritters know that people do vote based on what Congresscritters have done for their home districts (i.e. how much money they've pumped into the local economy.)

[weemadando]

Small government! Small government! Raaaaaaaaaawk!




Is anyone in the Tea Party even aware of how big of a group of hypocrites they are?

[Stravo]

It's the insidious trap. You go to Congress railing against pork and what is the one thing that is the most visible and potent way to get you re-elected? Pork for your district. I chuckle sadly to see it happen so quickly to these douches. This kind of hypocrisy should not surprise anyone from the party of small government since they screeched about the bailout with one hand and got pictures taken with the other cutting ribbons on bailout money projects in their districts.

[Kyler]

Earmarks are how members of Congress from small districts or states (population based) stay in office for a long time. States like Alaska and West Virginia recieve some of the highest amounts of earmarks per resident in the country. Their Congress members until recently like former Congressman Sen. Stevens (AK) or Sen Byrd (WV) approriated huge sums of earmarks to help keep them in office.

While I believe a sizeable portion of the current & new Tea Party members of Congress will hold true to their beliefs, Washington will always be convert some of the them. Politicians always say they are going to change Washington, but it is nearly always Washington that changes them.

Soon enough there will be plenty of members that will be Tea Party In Name Only.

[lance]

How does the billion that they get compare to other members of congress or the previous holders of those seats? They might be asking for less tan the normal amount.

[Simon_Jester]

One thing I think is worth mentioning is that earmarks are not necessarily corruption. A lot of states don't have the funds to pay for infrastructure out of their own budget; federal funds can go a long way to making the state more viable economically. West Virginia is an example of this, because they're dirt poor and yet it would be very difficult to move around the state if not for roads that were, in large part, paid for by federal earmarks.

Likewise, earmarks can go to funding museums, libraries, and similar projects in states that- again- lack the funds to pay for them.

So yes, they do help congresscritters stay in office longer. They also help keep dirt poor states from backsliding towards Third World standards of infrastructure and education. I'm not opposed to them... though damn sure I'm opposed to people going into office opposing them loudly and then suddenly turning round and calling for them within a month of Election Day.

[bobalot]

It's not really surprising.

You remember all those Republican politicians accusing Democrats of being socialists? It turns out that "red states" generally receive more than they contribute in taxes to the Federal Government.

[Jawawithagun]

Better Dead than Red, eh?

[Carinthium]

Who if anybody in the United States actually stands for small government?

[bobalot]

Who if anybody in the United States actually stands for small government?

Nobody but a small fringe. When Conservatives talk about "small government" what they really mean is "we don't wont money going to THOSE people". They are all for big government for themselves (Who they see as deserving). Case in point is the Bush Years. The guy spent money like a drunken sailor, ran a deficit during good times (which is VERY bad), attacked civil liberties and a started a ruinously expensive war in Iraq. Where were the fucking Tea Party back then?

[Big Orange]

Tea Party's Judson Phillips Advocates Property Ownership as Voting Prerequisite

(Yes, this is some batshit crazy stuff, but I think that bold and italicized is enough to get the point across. And next time, please post at least the relevant parts of the article.)
-SCRawl

[Carinthium]

Who if anybody in the United States actually stands for small government?

Nobody but a small fringe. When Conservatives talk about "small government" what they really mean is "we don't wont money going to THOSE people". They are all for big government for themselves (Who they see as deserving). Case in point is the Bush Years. The guy spent money like a drunken sailor, ran a deficit during good times (which is VERY bad), attacked civil liberties and a started a ruinously expensive war in Iraq. Where were the fucking Tea Party back then?

Do you know which actual organisations are non-hypocritical about the matter?

[bobalot]

Who if anybody in the United States actually stands for small government?

Nobody but a small fringe. When Conservatives talk about "small government" what they really mean is "we don't wont money going to THOSE people". They are all for big government for themselves (Who they see as deserving). Case in point is the Bush Years. The guy spent money like a drunken sailor, ran a deficit during good times (which is VERY bad), attacked civil liberties and a started a ruinously expensive war in Iraq. Where were the fucking Tea Party back then?

Do you know which actual organisations are non-hypocritical about the matter?

To their credit, libertarian organisations. However, their ideology is simply retarded. They are like the communists of old.

[General Zod]

Who if anybody in the United States actually stands for small government?

Nobody but a small fringe. When Conservatives talk about "small government" what they really mean is "we don't wont money going to THOSE people". They are all for big government for themselves (Who they see as deserving). Case in point is the Bush Years. The guy spent money like a drunken sailor, ran a deficit during good times (which is VERY bad), attacked civil liberties and a started a ruinously expensive war in Iraq. Where were the fucking Tea Party back then?

The problem is that nobody seems to have a functional definition of a "small government" that anyone can agree on. It's a feel-good word with no real meaning behind it.

[JME2]

It's the insidious trap. You go to Congress railing against pork and what is the one thing that is the most visible and potent way to get you re-elected? Pork for your district. I chuckle sadly to see it happen so quickly to these douches. This kind of hypocrisy should not surprise anyone from the party of small government since they screeched about the bailout with one hand and got pictures taken with the other cutting ribbons on bailout money projects in their districts.

Agreed.

When I read the article and the thread title, this is the image of said Tea Party representatives that popped into my head.