What's Happening in Earmarks & Appropriations

Fiscal Conservatives Urge Open Rule for Defense Spending Bill

  July 22, 2013 Dear Speaker Boehner, We understand that the House of...

Fiscal Conservative Organizations Outraged at Farm Bill Process

Today, TCS joined other fiscal conservative organizations expressing outrage at the farm bill process. ...

Energy and Water Spending Bill Passes Subcommittee

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies voted today to pass the fiscal year 2014...

TCS Presents “Subsidizing Small Modular Reactors”

Taxpayers for Common Sense was invited today to present on federal taxpayer subsidies and liabilities surrounding small modular nuclear...

Disaster Reforms for Resiliency

Over the past decade, extreme weather and storms have become increasingly commonplace – including coastal storms, wildfires, droughts,...

Costly Water Projects Bill Demands Scrutiny

Taxpayers for Common Sense and eight other organizations allied on this issue urge scrutiny of S.601, the Water Resources Development Act of 2013...

TCS Analysis of the FY14 Presidential Budget Request

Taxpayers for Common Sense staff will be combing through the budget over the next several hours and days and bringing to light various...

The Beat Continues on the Charlottesville Bypass

In a great piece about the proposed Charlottesville (VA) Bypass, James Bacon from Bacon’s Rebellion lays out several significant problems...

Energy Department Announces Second Round of Small Modular Reactor Funding

The Department of Energy (DOE) announced yesterday a second funding opportunity for its Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Program. The new...

Senate Dems’ Plan to Avoid Sequester Fails to Save

Senate Democrats' plan to avoid sequestration cuts fails to save taxpayers enough money....

Sandy Spending Accountability

With the Senate's 62-36 vote, lawmakers have sent in aggregate more than $60 billion to help those affected by Superstorm Sandy. You can...

Congress: Only Fund Emergency Needs in Sandy Supplemental

  January 11, 2012 Dear Representative, As you know, the House of...

Defense Authorization Bill: More Money, Less Savings

The Senate today passed the final version of the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which, though late, will still beat the...

TCS Letter to the Editor in St. Louis Post-Dispatch - “Solution to flood protection is not new earmarks”

Letters to the editor, June 14 Joshua Sewell • Washington, D.C. Policy Analyst, Taxpayers for Common Sense It is disappointing to...

Updates & Budgetary Gimmicks in the Final Continuing Resolution Unveiled by House Appropriations

The House Appropriations Committee released the final Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the federal government for the rest of the 2011...

TCS VP Steve Ellis Op-Ed: Earmarks are dead. Long live earmarks (CNN)

By Steve Ellis, CNNMoney guest columnist April 7, 2011: 11:31 AM ET Earmark reform: The end-arounds have begun -- Steve Ellis is Vice...

A Taxpayer Victory!  Thank You!

With the Senate's begrudging acceptance of an earmark moratorium, taxpayers just achieved a well-earned victory on the road to fiscal...

Senate Appropriations Committee Announces Earmark Moratorium

Today, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) announced a two year moratorium on earmarks. The call comes after...

TCS VP Steve Ellis on NPR: How To Get Around The Ban On Earmarks

Today, Taxpayers for Common Sense VP Steve Ellis spoke with NPR regarding ways to get around the earmark ban. You can listen to the NPR...

TCS VP Steve Ellis on MSNBC’s The Last Word discussing the Earmark Moratorium

Steve Ellis appeared on MSNBC's "The Last Word" program to discuss the earmark moratorium with Lawrence O'Donnell and Congressman Tim...

Deficit Commission Releases its Final Report—The Moment of Truth

So the "The Moment of Truth" is here. We've been combing through the specifics of the aptly titled final report of the National...

A Transportation Earmark is Still an Earmark

Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) told a local newspaper this week that she supports a ban on earmarks – but then turned around and said that...

TCS & Earmark Reforms Mentioned by Sen. James Inhofe on Senate Floor

Yesterday, while speaking on the Senate floor, Sen. Inhofe (R-OK) highlighted the earmark reforms that TCS developed with other...

TCS VP Steve Ellis discusses The Future of Earmark Transparency on Capitol Hill

Yesterday, the Advisory Committee on Transparency hosted “the Future of Earmark Transparency” on Capitol Hill. The Advisory Committee...

Reforms Proposed by National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Co-Chairs Unveiled Today

The Co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform gave their proposals to fellow Commission members today....

Press Briefing: Nonpartisan Coalition of Lobbyists and Advocates to Announce Commonsense Earmark Reform Principles

  On Tuesday, September 28th, 2010, a diverse coalition of good government groups, and Washington lobbyists from both sides of the...

Earmark Lobbyist Pleads Guilty; Lobby Shop’s Earmarks Detailed

September 24, 2010 (Update) Former high-powered PMA lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti has pleaded guilty to an illegal contribution scheme in...

FutureGen: Massive Clean Coal Project Changes Track, Still Securing $1 Billion Earmarked in the Stimulus

Today, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced that the plan to build “FutureGen” a massive commercial “clean coal” facility in Mattoon,...

Senate Takes a Step Toward Earmark Transparency

By an 11-5 vote today the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee passed  S.3335, the Earmark Transparency Act of 2010....

Letter to Chairman Oberstar: TCS Supports Efforts to Rescind Unused Transportation Earmarks

Chairman James Oberstar House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure 2165 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC...

Senate Appropriations Subcommittee Passes Energy & Water Bill—Includes $17 BILLION in Risky Loan Guarantees

 On July 20, the Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee approved a whopping $17 billion in new loan guarantees...

House Appropriations Subcommittee Passes Energy & Water Bill—Includes $50 BILLION in Risky Loan Guarantees

 On July 15, the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee approved a $34.7 billion FY 2011 funding bill. Drafts of the bill are...

Alaska Adopts Sensible Policy on Transportation Earmarks

Earlier this week, our attention was pointed to a new earmark policy released by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public...

Bipartisan Support for Earmark Database Bill Continues

(June 2)  Fully one-fifth of Senators have now joined efforts to show American taxpayers the true priorities of Congress. ...

TCS President Ryan Alexander’s Hearing Testimony on The Legality and Efficacy of Line-Item Veto

Today, Taxpayers for Common Sense President Ryan Alexander testified at the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on the Legality and Efficacy of Line-Item Veto Proposals...

House Republicans Adopt One-Year Earmark Moratorium

It’s been quite a whirlwind the last couple days. On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) announced a...

House Spending Committee Continues Down Path of Earmark Reform

The House Appropriations Committee took a positive step today on the long journey toward earmark reform. Chairman David Obey (D-WI)...

Murtha’s Legacy

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) last night received a sendoff befitting a 36-year titan of Capitol Hill. In the Capitol’s Statuary Hall,...

Ethics Committee Ignores Earmark Problems

The House Ethics Committee today closed their investigation into ties between campaign donation to seven lawmakers and earmarks to the...

FY11 Budget Cuts Agriculture Waste

The President’s proposed FY2011 Department of Agriculture (USDA) budget is $25.8 billion, slightly reduced from the FY2010 level of $26.9...

Statement by Ms. Ryan Alexander, President, Taxpayers for Common Sense on the State of the Union Address

Washington, DC - The President laid out the economic and fiscal challenges facing the country tonight in the State of the Union. The...

House Ethics Committee Investigation Memo Available

The July House Ethics Committee weekly summary report the Washington Post reported on last month is now available here. Wikileaks posted...

Watchdogs to Defense Secretary Gates: Tell Congress Earmarks Cannot be Tolerated

Government watchdogs yesterday sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urging him to make it unmistakably clear to Congress...

Senators Deliver Earmark Cash for Campaign Contributors

Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) has cross-referenced earmarks sought and obtained by Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee members...

Inouye, Cochran Benefit from Earmark Recipients

Taxpayers for Common Sense has mapped the connections between earmarks and campaign contributions for the chairman and ranking member of...

Watchdogs Release Database Detailing Earmarks and Campaign Contributions

                                                                          For immediate...

House Opportunity to Shoot Down Funding for Defense Contractor Raided by FBI

There are several amendments on the House Defense spending bill that is on the floor this morning. In addition to the important earmark...

House Defense Appropriators Rake in Earmarks for Campaign Contributors

Taxpayers for Common Sense analyzed the FY2010 Defense Appropriations spending bill that recently passed the House Appropriations...

House Defense Appropriations Committee Members Rake in Nearly $1 million from Potential Earmark Beneficiaries

A Taxpayers for Common Sense analysis found that the House lawmakers who write the annual defense spending bill asked for billions of...

Ethics Committee Reviewing Lawmaker-PMA Group Ties

As reported by Roll Call, the House Ethics Committee has announced that it is reviewing the PMA Group, a lobbying firm under...

House Commerce, Justice, Science Earmarks

The House Appropriatations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) released the list of earmarks from its...

Recommendations to the President for Earmark Reform

At Taxpayers for Common Sense, we believe that all funding decisions must be made on the basis of merit, federal priorities and national...

Letter to the President: Pledge to Keep the Stimulus Earmark Free

The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President, On behalf of the millions of members of our respective...

FBI Raids Lobby Firm with Murtha Ties

ABC News is reporting that the FBI has raided the offices of PMA Group, a powerful lobbying outfit here in Washington, D.C. The firm...

Earmark Reform Bill Introduced in the Senate

Taxpayers for Common Sense applauds Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO) for...

Congressman Gets Earmark for His Church

Congressman Bobby Rush (D-IL) appears to have taken the saying “taking care of your flock” to another level. Rush, who is also an...

House, Senate Appropriators Offer Further Earmark Reforms

Today, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman announced new earmark reforms for FY10 spending bills. The new reforms:...

What $24 Million Gets These Days

The controversial National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), located in a former department store in the congressional district of Rep....

Stevens Trial: Senator Takes Stand in Own Defense

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), on trial for failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of gifts from Veco Corporation and its former...

House Passes Bailout Bill

The House of Representatives today passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 by 263-171. Click here to read about the $110...

Senate Turns Against Earmark Reform

Tonight, the Senate passed the $612.5 billion Fiscal Year 2009 defense authorization bill. Virtually all the amendments to the...

Wasilla, Alaska Benefited from Nearly $27 Million in Earmarks from 1996 to 2002

As Mayor of Wasilla between 1996-2002, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) helped get nearly $27 million in earmarked federal funding. Under her...

New Analysis: Lawmakers Cutting Their Earmark Calories

During this election year, lawmakers are showing slight restraint in writing the earmarks in the FY 2009 spending bills, according to an...

Don Young Legal Defense Fund Disclosures Released

New documents show that Rep Don Young (R-AK) has raised $54,000 for his legal defense fund. This money was raised mainly from Alaskan...

Stevens Obtained $3.2 billion in earmarks between 2004-2008

Taxpayers for Common Sense has released the last four years of earmark data for Alaska to help create an understanding of how powerful...

TCS Requests Don Young Campaign Remove Misleading Ads

Recently it was brought to our attention that Alaskans for Don Young has been running radio ads claiming that Taxpayers for Common Sense...

Should Duke Cunningham be Pardoned?

Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA), currently in the middle of an 8-year prison sentence for taking $2.4 million in bribes from...

TCS, Allies and Taxpayers Find 76 Lawmakers Publish Earmark Requests

Every year lawmakers submit tens of thousands of earmark requests to the Appropriations Committees. Only a percentage of these make it...

Schoolyard Antics Derail House Spending Bills

In a tussle worthy of a schoolyard, the spending bosses in the House of Representatives have decided to hang up their cleats and go home....

House Appropriations Committee Smackdown

The House appropriations committee had a melt down today. After a bit of posturing, it appeared they were going to get down to business...

House Appropriations Committtee Disciplines DHS

The $40 billion Homeland Security spending bill marked up by the House Appropriations Committee yesterday is $2.3 billion over the...

Appropriations Committees Ramp Up Activities

Theyyyyyyyyyyy’re back. On both sides of the Capitol, the spending gears are starting to turn as the Appropriations committees meet to...

Don Young’s “A Team” Lobbyist List Uncovered

A two-page “survival guide” issued in 2007 to interns in Rep. Don Young’s (R–AK) office lists nine transportation lobbyists as “The A...

Istook Sent Earmarks to Six Abramoff Clients

A chief of staff for a former House Appropriations Committee Chairman pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday to conspiring to defraud...

DeMint Earmark Moratorium Amendment Fails

So it finally happened at 10:30 tonight. The DeMint earmark moratorium amendment to the budget resolution came to a vote. When faced...

More on Earmark Transparency

We’re still waiting to see what Speaker Pelosi does; word has been that it will be today. Over in the Senate, it keeps getting more...

TCS Requests Ethics Investigation of Coconut Road Earmark

The Honorable Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Chairwoman The Honorable Doc Hastings, Ranking Member House Committee on Standards of Official...

Ask Senator Stevens to Give Up Committee Assignments

Dear Leader McConnell: I'm writing to request that you ask Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) to temporarily recuse himself from his...

Time to Learn the Hard Lessons from Hurricane Katrina: Support Real Fiscal Reforms in Water Resources Development Act

Dear Member of Congress: For many years, our organizations have examined the standard operating practices of the Corps of Engineers and...

Support Amendments to Reign in Agriculture Appropriations’ Earmarks

May 23, 2006 Dear Representative: Taxpayers for Common Sense Action urges you to support...

TCS Applauds the Elimination of the Alaska Bridges to Nowhere

Washington, D.C. – The following is a written statement from Jill Lancelot, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense: The conferees on...

Bulldozed: How Taxpayers Get Leveled by Highway Pork

Despite the call on Capitol Hill for fiscal belt tightening to deal with record deficits, the House has shown an unprecedented hunger for...

Federal Distress

When it comes to shipping supplies, the Department of Defense is no Federal Express. DOD loses track of sixty percent of the $5 billion...

Green Scissors Michigan Released

In the first single state effort of the national Green Scissors Campaign, TCS and the Michigan Land Use Institute released the Green...

Syria: Excuse 535 To Not Cut the Deficit

Volume XVIII No. 37 Possible action in Syria has become the most recent excuse du jour for Pentagon boosters...