Four Candidates Reveal Funding Requests

Getting members of Congress to reveal funding requests divides 2008 pool.

ByABC News
July 6, 2007, 10:25 AM

July 5, 2007 &#151 -- WASHINGTON — The drive to get members of Congress to reveal their requests for federal funds has divided the body's 10 presidential candidates.

Four of them have released their request lists, putting pressure on others to do so. A fifth, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, does not seek any money. Five others have not released their lists. Four cited long-standing policy. Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The issue of publicizing requests for "earmarks" — money targeted for specific programs or projects, usually in members' home states or districts — is part of an effort by watchdog groups to shed light on what has traditionally been a largely secret process.

"We think the transparency will eventually lead to fewer earmarks," says Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, which has asked all lawmakers twice for their funding requests. "It's difficult for the leadership to continue to say, 'We're the most open and ethical Congress ever, and yet we're not telling you what we're requesting for earmarks.' "

As of Tuesday, 55 House members and two senators —Barack Obama of Illinois, a Democratic candidate for president, and Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona — had released their requests as part of a growing trend, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. Eighty House members and 11 senators have told Schatz's watchdog group that they will not do so.

In addition to Obama, Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo, all heavy underdogs in the presidential race, have put out their request lists. Republican Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Democratic Sens. Joseph Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut, and Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio have not followed suit.

Earmarks have gotten some lawmakers in trouble, fueling the drive to open the process to public inspection. In 2005, Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham was convicted of accepting bribes from defense contractors in exchange for earmarked projects. That helped lead the new Democratic-controlled Congress this year to reduce the number of earmarks and require members to sign a letter certifying that they have no financial interest in requested projects.

The rules also require all spending bills that contain earmarks to identify who requested them. The rules do not require members to disclose their requests.

Last month, Obama sent more than 100 requests totaling about $400 million to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The projects range from replacing two aging water towers in Aledo, Ill., to erecting an electric barrier to prevent Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.

"Barack Obama's decision to disclose his earmarks several weeks ago is part of his call for the most sweeping ethics reform in history, and we hope that other candidates will join him in his fight to clean up Washington," said his spokeswoman, Jen Psaki.

After Obama's effort at transparency, McCain's office said he should go further. "While we commend Sen. Obama's forthrightness, it would be much better if he followed Sen. McCain's lead and didn't request the earmarks in the first place," McCain spokesman Brian Jones told the Associated Press at the time.

Three Republican candidates also released their lists:

•Hunter began publicizing his earmark requests last year, when he was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Now its top Republican, he uses most of his requests to seek better equipment for military troops in war zones. The Californian also wants to spend $1 billion to build an 854-mile fence along much of the U.S. border with Mexico to reduce illegal immigration.

"Others may call those earmarks. I call them doing your job," Hunter says. "I like people to see what I'm doing."

•Paul released his letters to appropriations subcommittee chairmen who decide which earmarks are funded. The Texan's favored projects vary from marketing wild American shrimp to repairing the Galveston trolley system.

"In an already flawed system, earmarks can at least allow residents of congressional districts to have a greater role in allocating federal funds," he says on his website.

•Tancredo released his request list a day before Obama in response to his local media, spokesman Carlos Espinosa says. The Colorado congressman seeks about $226 million for 17 projects, from a light-rail system west of Denver to a Center for Audio and Video Forensics at the University of Colorado.

This is the first year Tancredo has unveiled his requests. "The downside is you don't get everything," Espinosa says. "There's really no point in advertising stuff that you don't get."

Some spokesmen for candidates who do not release their requests cite long-standing tradition or the legislative process. Others offer no specific reason.

"We never have made our earmarks public," says Natalie Laber, Kucinich's spokeswoman.

"We don't release them until the committee has had the opportunity to review the requests," Biden spokeswoman Margaret Aitken says.

That doesn't satisfy watchdog groups.

"At the end of the day, you have an elected official literally signing on the dotted line that they think this would be a good use of the taxpayers' money," says Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "Having full disclosure will make people think twice about what they're asking for."

Some watchdog groups say the ultimate solution is to end earmarks.

Publicizing them, Schatz says, "doesn't change the nature of the problem. It just gets it out there in public."