Senators to President: Put up or shut up about pork

Press Release from Senator DeMint:

Senators Send Bipartisan Letter Urging the President to Ignore Non-Legislative Earmarks
Report Says 95% of Earmarks for FY06 Are Not Legally Binding

March 9th, 2006 - WASHINGTON, D.C - Today, U.S. Senators Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) sent a letter to President George W. Bush, urging him to utilize his authority to stop wasteful earmarks written into committee reports and managers statements, but not in the text of legislation. A Congressional Research Service (CRS) report released this week concluded that over 95% of the Fiscal Year 2006 earmarks are not legally binding.

“The President was right in saying that earmarks need to be reduced, but now he needs to take an important step to make that happen,” Senator DeMint said. “If the President would tell his cabinet to ignore the thousands of earmarks that were not written into law, he could instantly solve most of the problem and make it much more difficult for Congress to micromanage our government with special interest projects.” ...

Related: Senator Jim DeMint's Press Release: CRS Report: 95% of Earmarks Not Legally Binding