TCS joined with other nonprofit good government groups and several Washington lobbyists to hammer out some jointly agreed upon earmark reform principles.  These are far from the end all be all of earmark reform, but as you can see from the earmark reform recommendations TCS released earlier this year, we would get to line a few out if Congress follows these recommendations.  Clearly if the lobbying community and TCS can agree on certain earmark reforms, there’s no reason Congress – whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge – can’t follow suit.

Congress will have to go further still, but these reforms would be a good down payment to show the American taxpayer that they are getting serious about stopping pay-to-play earmark shenanigans. We look forward to enacting these and additional reforms.

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Press Release: Bipartisan Coalition Announces Earmark Reform Principles ( HTML | PDF )

Coalition Principles of Earmark Reform ( HTML | PDF )

TCS Earmark Reform Recommendations ( HTML | PDF )

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Coalition Principles of Earmark Reform

1)      To cut the cord between earmarks and campaign contributions, Congress should limit earmarks directed to campaign contributors.

•  Limiting total contributions from the earmark beneficiary and its affiliates to no more than $5,000 would help restore public confidence.

2)      To eliminate any connection between legislation and campaign contributions, legislative staff should be barred from participating in fundraising activities.

• The attendance of legislative staff at fundraisers suggests a connection between campaign donations and earmarks. Further, it is awkward for staff members who might prefer to forgo such after-hours functions to decline to participate. 

 3)      To increase transparency, Congress should create a new database of all congressional earmarks.

• Information about lawmakers’ earmark requests is scattered across hundreds of web sites in a variety of formats with differing levels of details. The funding levels for each earmark award are listed in a chart at the end of each spending bill. While the data is technically available, it is virtually impossible to collect, understand and analyze all of the earmark information. Congress should create a unified, searchable, sortable and downloadable database on a public website.

 4)      To ensure taxpayer money has been spent appropriately, the Government Accountability Office should randomly audit earmarks.

• Because oversight is essential to maintaining integrity in the earmarking process, the Government Accountability Office should develop and implement a system to audit and report to Congress regularly on programs and projects funded through earmarks.  

  5)      To promote Congressional responsibility without stifling innovation, Members should certify earmark recipients are qualified to handle the project.

• Requiring certification would increase accountability for earmarks, insuring they are awarded responsibly and to entities with appropriate expertise and capability.

Melanie Sloan, Executive Director, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; Tom Schatz, President, Citizens Against Government Waste; Steve Ellis, Vice President, Taxpayers for Common Sense; Craig Holman, Legislative Representative, Public Citizen; Former Congressman James Walsh (R-NY), K&L Gates; Rich Gold, Holland & Knight; Manny Rouvelas, K&L Gates; Dave Wenhold, Miller/ Wenhold (Lobbying firms are listed for identification purposes only; the views expressed of the lobbyists included are their own and should not be attributed to their firms or clients)

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TCS Earmark Reform Recommendations

Excerpted from: TCS FY2010 Earmark Analysis: Apples-to-Apples Increase in Earmark Totals
Available here

We have made many strides in reforming the earmarking process over the last few years, but there is much more that needs to be done to democratize the budget and make the spending decisions of elected officials transparent and accountable to the American public.

For several years, TCS has made a series of consistent recommendations for reform. Most of the recommendations that appear below have appeared in our past calls for reform. As incremental reforms have been adopted—most notably the required disclosure of earmarks and the required disclosure of earmark requests on individual member sites—we have updated our recommendations for reform. We believe the following additional measures should be adopted to increase transparency and accountability of government spending:

1. Reduce the number and cost of earmarks and the types of projects eligible for earmark
funding.

• Reduce earmark spending levels by 50 percent a year for the next 5 years.
• Disallow earmarks in competitive or merit based funding programs.
• Ban earmarks for private or for‐profit entities.
• Establish earmark “term limits” – no project should be funded year after year through
  legislative earmarks.

2. Improve existing mechanisms for making the earmark system more transparent and
accountable.

• One stop shopping: Centralize disclosure of all earmarks request and awards and provide data in a common format that can be downloaded, searched, and sorted. It is also critical that any user can tell the difference between requests submitted for consideration by members and those that actually end up as earmarks.
   
• Provide amplifying budgetary information on congressional earmarks, similar to what is provided with the President’s budget, including historical funding levels, economic analysis and justification, and descriptive information.
   
• Make all legislation (including earmarks) available for public review at least 72 hours in advance of floor consideration.
   
• Create viable enforcement mechanisms that enable members and the public to challenge compliance.

For more information contact Taxpayers for Common Sense at 202‐546‐8500 or visit us at www.taxpayer.net
 

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September 28, 2010

BIPARTISAN COALITION OF LOBBYISTS AND ADVOCATES ANNOUNCES COMMONSENSE EARMARK REFORM PRINCIPLES
 

(Washington, D.C.) – Today in the nation’s capital, a diverse coalition of good government groups and Washington lobbyists from both sides of the political spectrum held a press conference to announce earmark reform principles aimed at reducing the influence of special interests and saving taxpayers’ money.

“Earmarks are a real problem, but real solutions have been in short supply as politicians have engaged in one-upmanship around the issue. Adopting these commonsense reforms would decrease corruption and increase Americans’ confidence in Congress,” said Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

This confederation of taxpayer watchdogs and private sector lobbyists includes CREW, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS), and Public Citizen (PC). The private-sector lobbyists include former Congressman James Walsh (R-NY) and Manny Rouvelas of K & L Gates; Rich Gold of Holland & Knight; and Dave Wenhold of Miller/Wenhold (all of whom are representing their own views and not those of their firms or clients).

“As a former member of the House Appropriations Committee, I saw both the best and worst of earmarking, I support this effort to make the process more transparent and Members more accountable,” said coalition partner and former Congressman Jim Walsh.

“Whether you are for earmarks or against them, everyone agrees that the public has right to know where their tax dollars are being spent and why,” said Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense. “We cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good; these basic reforms represent a good step forward to more transparent and accountable spending.”

The group announced five earmark reforms that they hope will be embraced as part of a rules package when the 112th Congress convenes in January, 2011.

1. In order to cut the cord between earmarks and campaign contributions, Congress should limit earmarks directed to campaign contributors.
2. To eliminate any connection between legislation and campaign contributions, legislative staff should be barred from participating in fundraising activities.
3. To increase transparency, Congress should create a new database of all congressional earmarks.
4. To ensure taxpayer money has been spent appropriately, the Government Accountability Office should randomly audit earmarks.
5. To promote congressional responsibility without stifling innovation, members of Congress should certify that earmark recipients are qualified to handle the project.

“There have been improvements in accountability and transparency of earmarks since 2006, but much more needs to be done,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz. “These reforms are the least that can be done to provide more timely and comprehensive information to the taxpayers, who are ultimately paying for these projects.”

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