RECORD ON SPENDING: 

“I don’t think this is wasteful government spending… This is an earmark…”

It doesn’t necessarily follow

On March 4, 2008 The Pottsville REPUBLICAN & Herald newspaper published comments on earmarks from Tim Holden. Among them: “I don’t think this is wasteful government spending at all….” “This is an earmark. I make no apologies for it. I’m proud of every earmark.”

The letter didn’t say if Holden was also proud of all the earmarks we must pay for outside his district for things like a Paint Shield for Protecting People from Microbial Threats, the National Mule and Packers Museum in California, the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure (whatever that means) in Johnstown, the Bridge to Nowhere in Alaska, or a Hippie Museum in Woodstock, NY.

Earmarks are unregulated, un-reviewed, noncompetitive spending projects inserted into appropriations bills by legislators, including Tim Holden. They cost American taxpayers billions of dollars annually.

Earmarks represent the worst of Washington’s corruption and fiscal promiscuity. They are central to the overall crisis of runaway federal spending.

There’s more: “Holden also said recent changes in how an earmark is explained within a budget makes the process more ‘transparent’ and assures money is only committed to worthwhile projects.” That’s false. Earmarks are not reviewed and debated “within a budget,” they are inserted after the fact from committee reports and often airdropped into House/Senate conference committees specifically to avoid scrutiny and transparency. The only change to the process in 2007 was that a member is now required to be identified with the earmark. Though the Democrats in Congress made a lot of noise about earmark transparency and reform, it took them less than six months in the majority to break their promises – about the time the appropriations process began.

Voters Want Less Pork, Even in Their Own District by Pat Toomey >>

This check is from the Dept. of Homeland Security from funds already appropriated for volunteer fire companies. Why is Tim Holden’s name on it?

This is how Tim Holden takes American tax money and uses it to protect his job security.

Congressman Holden presenting a grant from the Department of Homeland Security to the Bernville Fire Co.

The Most Ethical Congress in History?

In 2006, the Democrats who had just won the majority in Congress made the promise that they would take back Washington from powerful interests and lobbyists. They passed what they proclaimed were the most significant ethics reforms in years.

Their only reform was a rule requiring lawmakers, for the first time, to disclose their earmarks — federal dollars they were quietly doling out as favors, often to donors.

But time after time, Congress exploited loopholes or violated those rules. A detailed examination of the 2008 defense bill reveals $8.5 billion in earmarks. Of those, 40 percent — $3.5 billion — were hidden, including a $3.2 million earmark by Tim Holden for Fidelity Technologies, a company outside his district. In return, Fidelity’s management and lobbyists paid Tim Holden more than $100,000 for his campaigns.

And Congress broke its pledge to cut earmarks in half.

Tim Holden and the Democrats promised us “the most ethical Congress in history.” They delivered business as usual.

This pay-to-play mentality must be stopped in Washington. It’s dishonest, and it’s unseemly. It unnecessarily costs taxpayers billions. Earmarks are the bribes congressional leadership uses to secure members’ votes on extravagant spending bills they might ordinarily oppose. Politicians win. American taxpayers lose.

Tim Holden cites earmarks as the only rationale for his reelection. A career based on “bringing home the bacon” is one that will sacrifice good governance for personal gain. Tim Holden has done both.