North Carolina Congressman introduces an amendment to eliminate all earmarks in a transportation spending bill that is up for House vote this week.In a statement to The Daily Signal, Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) stated that taxpayers across the nation are now getting their first glimpse at Washington in the new earmarks era.Budd stated that it was not a beautiful sight. The transportation spending bill contains 1,474 examples from the Washington swamp claiming they are the best at spending taxpayer money. If a project that is earmarked for taxpayer funding is worthy, it should be presented individually to the House floor or as an award.The House will vote on The Invest in America Act, which Budds office claims includes 1,473 earmarks. These earmarks add up to $5.66 billion.The $715 billion transportation spending bill, the Invest in America Act, is included in the $715 billion Transportation Spending Bill. According to the bill fact sheet, it contains $32 billion for rebuilding bridges and $109 billion for transit funding. This includes investments in zero-emission transit cars, supporting fleet conversion to lower local air pollution, and $95 billion in freight and passenger rail spending.Budds office says that dozens of these earmarks are related to Green New Deal priorities such as greenways, electric cars, and so forth.Conservatives have been opposed to earmarks for years. They direct taxpayer money through the budget to special interests and projects of lawmakers. In 2010, House rules banned earmarks, but House Democrats approved earmarks in February.Budd and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) introduced earlier this year the Earmark Elimination Act, which would ban all congressional earmarks permanently.The North Carolina congressman led an alliance of 10 senators, 25 House members and 25 senators to send a letter in March to the House Appropriations Committee chairmen. They expressed strong opposition to the formal return to pork-barrel and earmarks.Budd stated that every taxpayer dollar is sacred and should therefore be treated as such. If the Congress truly believed this, we should eliminate pork barrel spending.
