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When thousands of people donate no more than $100 per person per election, we can build a campaign without money from special interests. _______________________ But it's about more than money. We need your energy and your enthusiasm, too. Sign up to volunteer on Jim Hansen's campaign for Congress.
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| Hansen criticizes Simpson vote on earmarks |
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| posted on Monday, September 25, 2006 |
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The U.S. House of Representatives took a small but significant step when it approved a measure that allows more public scrutiny of the way taxpayer dollars are spent by members of Congress, said Jim Hansen, a candidate for Idaho’s 2nd District seat in Congress.
Hansen’s opponent, four-term incumbent Mike Simpson voted against the bill.
The legislation, approved 245-171 by the House on Sept. 14, requires members to put their names on projects that cost millions of dollars each year in “earmarks,” insider deals that have been tied to recent corruption scandals in Congress and have worsened the nation’s deficit.
Hansen said he would work in Congress to eliminate earmarks and ensure that all appropriation requests are fully disclosed and debated before they are voted on.
“This legislation is the greatly watered-down result of ethics reform begun earlier this year. I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Simpson couldn’t support even this much,” Hansen said. “Congress not only failed to respond to public demands for meaningful reform, but my opponent continues to defend earmarks, which clearly have been abused by some members as paybacks to lobbyists and campaign donors.”
When Congress spends the public’s money, the public deserves a public process, Hansen said. “That’s why I am not taking money from PACs and special interests and limiting contributions to $100 or less from individuals only,” he said.
The legislation that passed the House would require appropriations bills and conference reports to list the earmarks that were attached to them, as well as the names of the lawmakers who requested the earmarks. However, Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates the measure’s loopholes would still allow 42 percent of earmarks to avoid such labeling.
At least this bill would crack open the door that will allow more light to shine on murky deals with special interests, Hansen said. He said Congress could have enacted far more comprehensive reform if it had not been paralyzed by its cozy relationship with the lobbyists and powerful special interests that pour millions into campaign war chests in exchange for earmarks and other favors.
“I have traveled to every county in Idaho’s 2nd District and met with thousands of people,” Hansen said. “They are tired of insider deals in Congress.”
Simpson continued to vigorously defend earmarks in an op-ed he wrote earlier this year. For that opinion he was named a “Porker of the Month” by Citizens Against Government Waste.
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