Jackson Free Press

Mississippi U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran was one of eight Republicans to vote against an earmark ban, which failed in a 39-to-56 vote in the Senate today.

The ban would have prevented lawmakers from sending congressionally budgeted funds to specific local projects such as highway construction or restoration works in Mississippi and the rest of the country. Earlier this month, Cochran and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker signed on to a Republican Conference resolution, along with other Republicans, to refrain for requesting earmarks during the upcoming 112th Congress.

The Citizens Against Government Waste's "2010 Congressional Pig Book" reported that Cochran helped 240 projects costing $490 million in earmarks for Mississippi. Since fiscal-year 2008, CAGW found that Cochran "obtained" more than $2 billion in pork for the state and beyond.

"I remain unconvinced that fiscal prudence is effectively advanced by ceding to the Obama administration our constitutional authority to determine federal expenditures, but an earmark moratorium is the will of the Republican Conference," Cochran said in a Nov. 16 statement. "If this is what it takes to get Congress focused on the real steps needed to get our fiscal house in order, then I will take the views of my Republican colleagues to heart. Restraining overall spending and eliminating waste in government will require our undivided attention."

Cochran's spokesman, Chris Gallegos said that the senator voted against the amendment because it has more restrictions than the resolution. The amendment would have prevented spending for the next two years.

"Senator Cochran takes very seriously the views of the Republican Conference and the need to restrain federal spending, but he is not comfortable conceding Congress' right to advocate specific priorities without having seen the President's budget requests for coming fiscal years," Gallegos said in a statement.

Read the JFP story "Earmark 'Kings' Pledge Ban."

Previous Comments

ID

161126

Comment

No surprise here. One of many weird things about the animus against earmarks is that they surely benefit small states more than large states. Without a senior senator like Cochran pulling strings, does anyone imagine that Mississippi would have gotten an additional $2 billion in funding over the last two years? Yet, banning earmarks is largely a Republican passion, and Republicans disproportionately represent small states. It's analogous to how red states rail against big government but claim a much higher share of federal spending than blue states.

Author

Brian C Johnson

Date

2010-11-30T13:12:53-06:00