Specter of 'earmarks' haunts GOP: House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., sidestepped a fight with outside conservative groups and fiscal hawks and avoided public backlash Wednesday when he resisted calls from some within his conference to bring back earmarks, those pet projects slipped into spending bills that can sweeten the pot for legislators and help get bills passed. But many Republicans admitted Wednesday was just about process and timing, and were confident that earmarks, which some call directed congressional spending, will come back in some form. It's about optics, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., said before Ryan convinced sponsors of two amendments to partially roll back the 2011 earmark ban to pull their proposals.
The AUP responds.
1. Congress has no incentive to respect taxpayer dollars since they still only answer to the Special Interest Groups that fund their elections.
2. No government agency should have the authority to issue any regulation that serves as a law. Only Congress can enact laws. Agencies should only be permitted to recommend laws to Congress. But then Congress must approve the regulation and the President must sign before it becomes a law just like every other law.
3. Any project or funding for a project that can stand alone in a seperate bill must stand alone in a seperate bill.
4. Congress should only be able to spend when a majority of the states or a majority of the population would be impacted directly by the law (not the taxes needed to fund the law) or when 3/5 of both houses approve. Otherwise, the activity shall be left to the individual states to decide.
