Rep. Ted Budd Proposes Eliminating Over 1,400 Earmarks

Press Release

Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) has submitted an amendment to the "INVEST in America Act' that cuts all pork barrel earmarks out of the bill. This would eliminate 1,474 earmarks, saving taxpayers $5.66 billion.

Rep. Budd said in a statement:

"Taxpayers across the country are getting their first look at what Washington is like in the new earmark era. It's not a pretty sight. This transportation spending bill includes 1,474 examples of the Washington Swamp saying they know best when it comes to spending taxpayer dollars. If an earmarked project is truly worthy of taxpayer funding, then it should be proposed individually on the House floor or as a competitive grant. Every taxpayer dollar is sacred and should be treated that way. If this Congress really believed that, then we should remove this pork barrel spending."

Background:

On February 18, 2021, Reps. Budd and Ralph Norman introduced the Earmark Elimination Act. The bill would permanently ban congressional earmarks.

On March 10, 2021, Rep. Budd led a coalition of 10 Senators and 25 House members to send a letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairs expressing strong opposition to the formal return of pork-barrel earmarks.

Source