newsobserver.com projects - Price defends earmarks - Comments

Re: Price defends earmarks in Cary

robwald — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:41:48 -0400

Agreed with your comment mwilbert and would go further that Price's comment demonstrates his fiscal laziness. In corporate America, during lean times or during times when better financial performance is requested from shareholders, the mandate from management soon becomes "buckle up" and "everything is under review". In terms of earmarks, Price should focus NOT on this being 1 percent of the budget (with 1 percent of budget still being a HUGE dollar amount) but on the message that taxpayers are saying (we should be viewed as shareholders and "owners") that we want better financial performance and more effective government. Bottom line, how about shaving 5% from every government program and demand less waste and more productivity. If average Americans are being asked to produce this kind of value, then we should expect nothing less from our government. Mr. Price, how about some leadership and more bigger picture thinking?

Re: Price defends earmarks

dahedgehog — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:18:47 -0400

Did he really include Social Security in his list of "spending problems"? Didn't he read the trustees' report yesterday? Social Security is solvent. The trust fund has enough money to pay full benefits until 2041, according to current projections. And there's ample reason to believe that those projections are overly pessimistic. The actuarial balance has been improving, and is now better than it’s been since 1993.

Certainly Dr. Price is too smart to have made such a mistake. Or has he really been duped by the right wing's scare tactics on this issue?

Re: Price defends earmarks in Cary

mwilburt — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:25:03 -0400

Price arrogantly says, "....the money would be appropriated anyway." That's because he knows he is in a position to ensure that our money is there for him and his cronies to spend.

And it will be spent without an individual vote on the merits of the project; bundled with thousands of other "worthy" projects costing us hundreds of millions of our hard-earned dollars.

The "everybody's doing it" defense only works on the schoolyard Rep. Price. You should be ashamed of your arrogance.

Price defends earmarks

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:55:42 -0400

U.S. Rep. David Price says earmarks have gotten a bad rap.

In a speech before the Cary Chamber of Commerce this morning, the Chapel Hill Democrat said the recent debate over Congressional earmarks has blown them out of proportion.

Price said the total amount of money spent on earmarked projects is about 1 percent of the federal budget. The bigger problems with spending are the Iraq war, Medicare and Social Security, he said.

A professor of political science, Price argued that the U.S. Constitution clearly gives Congress "the power of the purse," including the right to direct spending. He cited several local projects, including a town water reclamation facility, that were needed.

The issue with earmarks is not spending, since most of the money would be appropriated anyway, he said. Instead, he said, it has been a lack of transparency and "road to nowhere" projects that were not worthy.

Still, he said, there is "a fair amount of exaggeration" about earmarks.

"This earmark process has become kind of a bugaboo and it's going to figure in some of the campaigns," he said. "Everybody should take a deep breath."