McCaskill joins McCain in anti-earmark effort, announces local grants
U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is promoting her participation in a bipartisan Senate effort to curb “earmarks,” the spending that senators add to a bill during conference committees, and that rarely are subject to pre-approval debates or hearings.
McCaskill joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. and the losing GOP presidential nominee, at a news conference in D.C. on Wednesday that also featured Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-OK).
The five announced that they had introduced “the Fiscal Discipline, Earmark Reform, and Accountability Act of 2009, which would take aggressive steps to prevent pork barrel funding in appropriations bills without transparency and congressional approval.”
“We are looking at deficits in the trillions, and I think Americans are fed up with the way Washington has been spending their money,” McCaskill said in a statement. “Changing the earmark culture is not the whole solution to bringing fiscal responsibility back, but it’s a start.”
Click here to listen to the audio.
But her dislike of earmarks that doesn’t mean she’s against all federal spending that sends money back to her home state.
Also Wednesday, McCaskill announced two grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):
—- A total of $752,560 to the city of Silex in Lincoln County. “The money is being provided through the United State’s Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development funding initiative, which works to improve the economy and quality of life in rural communities by supporting and providing government loans and grants.
“…According to the USDA, the city will receive a grant of $387,560 and a low-interest government loan of $365,000. The funds will be used to upgrade the centralized sewer system, providing improved water treatment facilities and adding thousands of feet in main line.”
—- $50,000 to the city of Berger in Franklin County. The money comes from the same USDA program targeting rural communities.
“According to the USDA, the funding will be used to provide a centralized sewer system that will improve the health and sanitary conditions of the area by providing water to residents who currently rely on failing septic tanks,” the senator’s office said.
> But her dislike of earmarks that doesn’t mean she’s against
> all federal spending that sends money back to her home state.
As much as I hate to defend McCaskill … there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s a big difference between an orderly grant awarding process, and the political earmark process. That doesn’t mean the grants are always good - but at least you know the grant wasn’t awarded as a way of buying a vote on an unrelated piece of legislation.
“According to the USDA, the funding will be used to provide a centralized sewer system that will improve the health and sanitary conditions of the area by providing water to residents who currently rely on failing septic tanks,” the senator’s office said”
Well they do need help if they are getting water from failing septic tanks…..