WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) its October 2018 Porker of the Month for expressing his support for bringing back pork-barrel earmarks if his party retakes control of the House of Representatives.
In a speech on September 12, 2018, Whip Hoyer called the elimination of earmarks, “an abdication of Congress’ power of the purse,” and pledged that if the House Democrats win a majority in November’s midterm elections, his caucus would support a resurrection of the wasteful and corruptive practice. He even claimed that the return of earmarks would help “fix government.”
Whip Hoyer must have quite a short memory. Before earmarks were put under a moratorium in 2011, the preceding decade was chock full of high-profile boondoggles such as the Bridge to Nowhere, and scandals that resulted in jail terms for Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) and Bob Ney (R-Ohio), and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The late Sen. John McCain slammed those who argued for the return of earmarks, saying, “the problem with all their arguments is: the more powerful you are, the more likely it is you get the earmark in. Therefore, it is a corrupt system.”
As for the congressional power of the purse, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) said it best: “Earmarking was not the innocuous exercise of Congress' constitutional spending power; it was the tool lobbyists and leadership used to compel members to vote for bills that their constituents — and sometimes their conscience — opposed.”
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Whip Hoyer’s full-throated endorsement of earmarks as a way to ‘fix government’ is laughable and absurd. Earmarks are corrupt, inequitable, wasteful, and the antithesis of good government. Congress should be voting to permanently ban earmarks instead of debating whether to bring them back.”
For pushing pork-barrel earmarks on American taxpayers, CAGW names House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer its October 2018 Porker of the Month.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government. Porker of the Month is a dubious honor given to lawmakers, government officials, and political candidates who have shown a blatant disregard for the interests of taxpayers.
