Fallon Calls for Abolition of Earmarks

Friday, April 4, 2008

Friday, April 4, 2008 (10:00 AM CDT) - Ed Fallon today called for abolishing congressional earmarks, challenging incumbent Congressman Leonard Boswell to match his own pledge to refuse earmarks and to work to end the practice. “If Congressman Boswell isn’t agreeable to earmark reform, then I believe the public has an interest in hearing a debate between the two of us on the issue,” Fallon said.

“Earmarks are the epitome of pork barrel spending, and are an abuse of power, position, and taxpayers’ trust,” Fallon said. “They allow members to direct spending to their pet projects, often as payback to big donors. Lobbyists spent $160 million to influence Congress in 2006. They got great return on their investment -- $12 billion in earmarks.”

Fallon pointed out that his opponent in this race, Rep. Leonard Boswell, is a worse than average offender. In 2007, the average House member who was not a member of the Appropriations Committee obtained $4 million in earmarks. “Despite increased public outrage over earmarks,” Fallon said, “Congressman Boswell actually increased his use of earmarks this year, securing earmarks worth $33.1 million, up from $32.3 in the previous budget.”

Fallon noted that he has endorsed the Change Congress movement’s pledge to abolish earmarks, and that his own pledge is featured on the first page of his campaign website: “I, Ed Fallon, do hereby pledge that I will personally support spending reform in Congress by refusing to seek, support, or enact earmarks during the appropriations process, and will work for the abolition of earmarks.”

If elected, Fallon will join twelve U.S. representatives and six senators who refuse to request earmarks, including Democratic Senators Russ Feingold, Clare McCaskill, and Jay Rockefeller. “It’s the right thing to do,” Fallon said, “and I will still see that my constituents’ interests are met through appropriate budget practices. Members managed to do that for over 200 years without earmarks.” Fallon believes that while many of the projects funded by earmarks are valuable, they should be open to public scrutiny and subject to a merit-based, competitive bidding process.

While his remarks were prompted by Wednesday’s release of the 2008 Congressional Pig Book by Citizens Against Government Waste, Fallon noted that when he announced his congressional campaign in January, he identified budget reform in general and earmark reform in particular as one of the issues propelling his campaign.

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