Stop with the earmarks already

The pressures of standing on principle have begun to weigh heavily on the Republicans in Congress even before the new session starts.

Let me explain what an earmark is.  An earmark is a budget line specifying a very specific expenditure dropped into a bill outside and often after the bill has been written.  No debate.  No justification.  No accountability and often outside the allotted budget for the bill it is attached to.

What is not an earmark is a budget line specifying a very specific expenditure that gets debated through committee and on the floor.  If a congresscritter wants a Bridge to Nowhere, they have to justify why it is more important than somebody else’s bridge to somewhere and why the residents of 49 other states should pay for it.

The problem with earmarks is not the money.  It’s the corruption.  It’s the climate of graft it generates.  Pay me and I will drop taxpayer money on you…no questions asked.

I want questions asked.  I want a budget that means this is how much money there is to spend and all of Congress has to figure out how to allocate it.  “Budgeting” does not mean just writing checks.  It means the allocation of limited resources.  And when they’re out of resources.  STOP SPENDING MONEY!