US senator honors fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability

US Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) replied to a letter I wrote to him as a constituent on the issue of spending earmarks. He agreed with me that we need more transparency and accountability in Congress, especially when it comes to spending the taxpayer's money. He co-sponsored the recent one-year earmark moratorium amendment that eventually failed to pass. He says the right words to me as a government reformer, and am honored to have him as one of my senators.

Here is a snippet of that letter of his:

" Members of Congress should have a say in how their constituents’ tax dollars are allocated, but every earmark should be openly debated and voted on. Taxpayers in Texas, and across the country, demand and deserve greater fiscal discipline and accountability in Washington, D.C. I have worked hard during my time in the Senate to reduce the size of government and eliminate wasteful spending—saving taxpayers’ money. Although the Senate did not pass this one-year moratorium amendment, it is my hope that by continuing to work together to fix the broken process by which we allocate federal dollars, Congress will send a clear message to the American people that we are listening.

America’s founding fathers understood a free society could not exist without informed citizens and an open, accessible government. That’s why strengthening government transparency and accountability has been among my highest priorities since coming to the Senate. The more information that we can put in the hands of the American people about what Congress does on a daily basis, the stronger our democracy will be. I can think of no area where accountability is more important than in the process of how Congress spends the money that Texans send to Washington. "

Tell your US Senators to vote YES for year-long earmark moratorium

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is running an internet grassroots campaign to remove earmarks from the federal budgeting process.

Right now, Sens. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are offering an amendment to the 2009 budget resolution that will impose a year-long moratorium on congressional earmarks.

Earmarking invites fraudulent behavior, hollows out or national defenses, and diverts lawmakers' attention from important national business like saving Medicare and Social Security for our children and grandchildren. Many congressional offices even have one or more staffers dedicated solely to procuring earmarks.

A year-long moratorium is a critical step forward to stopping Congress’s addiction to earmarking. It will give members time to reform the process, devote more effort to critical issues, and help keep money in taxpayers’ wallets instead of being diverted to Washington where it can be converted into pork.

Please tell your Senators to support the DeMint-McCain Amendment to keep wasteful, pork-barrel spending out of the 2009 budget!

You can also call them through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

US Reps. Lois Capps and Devin Nunes named Porkers of the Month

From CAGW's Porker of the Month page:

" Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) has named Reps. Lois Capps (D-Calif.) and Devin Nunes (R-Calif) Porkers of the Month for attempting to impede the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in Medicare overpayments. Using Recovery Audit Contractors (RACs), private-sector auditing companies that specialize in uncovering improper payments, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has recouped $357.2 million in overpayments to Medicare providers in California, Florida, and New York since 2005. A demonstration project slated to roll out nationwide next month, the RAC audits have deterred fraud and reduced Medicare’s improper payment rate, according to CMS officials. However, with their home-state hospitals objecting to having to account for $120 million in improper payments, Reps. Capps and Nunes have introduced H.R. 4105, which would place a one-year moratorium on the RAC program, blocking the nationwide rollout and essentially ending the three-state pilot project. For being more interested in kowtowing to pressure from hospitals in their districts that billed for millions they were not entitled to than in shielding the Medicare program and taxpayers from huge losses, CAGW names Reps. Capps and Nunes its February, 2008 Porkers of the Month. "