Should earmarks/pork be permanently banned?
I say yes.All waste must be cut especially pork spending.
Yes,ban all earmarks.
Politicians have to find an alternate way to "buy" votes.
eace
I SAY YES without an iota of hesitation. If a member of the congress and senate wants a special appropriation for his district..make it PUBLIC lets hear it and let the group decide.
No - regardless of the 'big bad meany money robbing rap' that it's all received: they can be abused and over-used . . . but are not inherently an evil.
The purpose of our Congressmen being our Representatives in Congress is to go there - with our requests and needs - and ask for a bit of support for things that we'd like to do. Not 100% support: but some. That is THE purpose and OUR right.
Why is it so wrong for us to do this?
Now - of course, again, yes it can be abused. So excessive use should be reigned in and they *should not* be kept private or quiet. That is where the problems are.
Yes,ban all earmarks.
Politicians have to find an alternate way to "buy" votes.
eace
No - regardless of the 'big bad meany money robbing rap' that it's all received: they can be abused and over-used . . . but are not inherently an evil.
The purpose of our Congressmen being our Representatives in Congress is to go there - with our requests and needs - and ask for a bit of support for things that we'd like to do. Not 100% support: but some. That is THE purpose and OUR right.
Why is it so wrong for us to do this?
Now - of course, again, yes it can be abused. So excessive use should be reigned in and they *should not* be kept private or quiet. That is where the problems are.
So - if you don't want your representatives representing you and trying to help improve your district and state . . . then what do you want them to do?
Focus their attention on dealing with our national debt and more urgent matters. Local projects should not be the priority of Congress. imo.
I would be more okay with having a limit to how many earmarks can be on a bill. There is good to having earmarks, but I think if we had a limit to them it would be more beneficial.
Why? Then you could just have a few bad earmarks rather than alot of bad ones.
Because I realize that they can be beneficial. What we need is more rules so that we weed out the bad ones for good ones.
An example of a good one, is here in my district in SC we recieved federal money to rebuild our soccer fields and now the city league has grown, the select teams have a place to call home field, and an adult Sunday and Saturday league was started.
What we need is more rules so that we weed out the bad ones for good ones.
An example of a good one, is here in my district in SC we recieved federal money to rebuild our soccer fields and now the city league has grown, the select teams have a place to call home field, and an adult Sunday and Saturday league was started.
I can't imagine any way to prevent selfish earmarks that wouldn't also stop legitimate expenditures. For example, money spent rebuilding a city after a natural disaster. How would the ban distinguish between that and a porkbarrel project?
Edit: Should have read the second page. >_< I like most of Hazlnut's list. But again, something that serves a local or special interest can still be in the common interest. Sometimes a specific problem requires national focus.
You realize that pretty much everyone who isn't in your district thinks that's a stupid, wasteful earmark, right? Why should the federal government be subsidizing a city soccer league?
And yeah I do realize that people will see it as wasteful, and there is good reason to see that. But I mean compared to a statue was that put up in Columbia through earmarks, at least the soccer fields promote physicall activity and gives high schoolers a part time job in ref'ing games. But that is what I mean when we should have more rules regarding what earmarks go to. I realize that my example wasn't the best,
I am taking the LSAT Saturday, so my brain isn't in the best place.
Well - I wouldn't mind a bit more oversight, control and approval. If they're requesting funds for a project because "we want it" - we better actually want it. So polling for opinion or support - etc - should be the beginning of every project.
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