2007 State of the Union address: on Government Reform


George W. Bush: Expose every earmark to a vote; cut earmarks in half by 2008

There is the matter of earmarks. These special interest items are often slipped into bills at the last hour--when not even C-SPAN is watching. In 2005 alone, the number of earmarks grew to over 13,000 and totaled nearly $18 billion. Even worse, over 90% of earmarks never make it to the floor of the House and Senate--they are dropped into committee reports that are not even part of the bill that arrives on my desk. You did not vote them into law. I did not sign them into law. Yet they are treated as if they have the force of law. The time has come to end this practice. So let us work together to reform the budget process ... expose every earmark to the light of day and to a vote in Congress ... and cut the number and cost of earmarks at least in half by the end of this session.
Source: 2007 State of the Union address to Congress Jan 23, 2007

  • The above quotations are from 2007 State of the Union address to Congress, plus the Democratic Response: Jan. 23, 2007.
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Page last updated: Feb 24, 2019