The Honorable Nancy Pelosi The Honorable Harry Reid
U.S. House of Representatives United States Senate
Washington DC 20515 Washington DC 20510

Dear Representative Pelosi and Senator Reid:

Congratulations on being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives and Majority Leader of the Senate, respectively. As a non-partisan budget watchdog, Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) appreciates your reported commitment to increasing earmark transparency and accountability.

TCS shares your concern that reforms adopted during the 109th Congress did not go far enough to shine light on the legislative process and fully engage the public. To that end, we have developed a series of benchmarks dubbed the “Leave No Earmark Behind” platform, which I have attached to this letter. TCS will use these benchmarks to evaluate any new earmark transparency or reform proposals.

Rather than a simplistic ban or a dogmatic approach to vilify earmarks, TCS seeks practical solutions designed to increase transparency and accountability and protect the American taxpayer without compromising core government functions. “Leave No Earmark Behind” calls for requiring: earmark authors be identified, earmark requests be made public, justification sheets describing earmarks (similar to those accompanying projects in the President’s budget), disclosure of professional or familial ties to earmarks, and ending earmarking in classified budgets. In addition, to truly make the process accountable, TCS is calling for earmarks to somehow be made amendable on the floor – whether by including them in the legislative language or other means.

Considering the stratospheric increase in the number of appropriations earmarks over the last decade – from less than 4,000 in FY1996 to more than 15,000 in FY2005 – the process must be reined in. Again, congratulations on your new leadership positions, and be assured that Taxpayers for Common Sense looks forward to working with you to make the legislative process more transparent and accountable to the American taxpayer.

If you would like to discuss this further, please contact me or my Vice President of Programs, Steve Ellis, at 202-546-8500 ext. 126 or steve@taxpayer.net.

Sincerely,

Ryan Alexander
President
202-546-8500 ext. 104