House Republicans Fight Against Pork Barrel Spending

HOUSE REPUBLICANS FIGHT AGAINST PORK BARREL SPENDING

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, when Members of Congress propose ways to spend American tax dollars, we should be held publicly accountable for our requests. This week, House Republicans will take another important step to eliminate excessive spending from the Federal budget process.

Congress has a strong leader for fiscal responsibility with Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who has proposed a positive way to bring increased transparency and accountability to our budget process. By granting President Bush the authority to single out individual spending items in the legislation, the Legislative Line Item Veto Act will help target wasteful and unnecessary spending. This legislation would enable the President to strike spending from a piece of legislation and would require Congress to hold an up-or-down vote on the spending within 14 legislative days.

Passing this bill will send a strong statement that the power of the purse does not provide permission for pork barrel spending.

In conclusion, God bless our troops, and we will never forget September 11.

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