NationalJournal brings us more evidence for why the Tea Party must be ever-vigilant:
Members of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus may tout their commitment to cutting government spending now, but they used the 111th Congress to request hundreds of earmarks that, taken cumulatively, added more than $1 billion to the federal budget.
According to a Hotline review of records compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, the 52 members of the caucus, which pledges to cut spending and reduce the size of government, requested a total of 764 earmarks valued at $1,049,783,150 during Fiscal Year 2010, the last year for which records are available.
“It’s disturbing to see the Tea Party Caucus requested that much in earmarks. This is their time to put up or shut up, to be blunt,” said David Williams, vice president for policy at Citizens Against Government Waste. “There’s going to be a huge backlash if they continue to request earmarks.”
Exactly.
Follow the link to see the entire list of who requested how much. Only 16 of the 52 reps in the caucus had the correct answer of $0.00.
If there’s anything the Tea Party loathes more than fiscal recklessness, it’s those who carry the banner of fiscal responsibility while giving us more of the same recklessness.
