While Reed Lauds Senator Gillibrand’s Commitment To Transparency On Earmarks, He Remains Opposed To Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars Spent On Political Pork

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Congressional Candidate Tom Reed today lauded Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s commitment to transparency on earmarks. Sen. Gillibrand recently introduced legislation in the Senate to create a searchable database to track earmarks inserted into federal legislation.

“We support full and complete disclosure of earmarks from cradle to grave,” Reed stated. “Earmarks are extremely political in nature. Billions of tax payer dollars are being spent on things that are not necessary services that the government should provide. If I am elected, the only requests I will support will be those directly related to national security, public safety, or infrastructure.”

Reed pointed out that in FY2009, $19.6 billion was spent on more than 10,000 earmarks that were not requested as necessary expenditures by federal agencies. Spending on earmarks in 2010 fell to “just” $16 billion.

“While the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007 was supposed to clean up this process, Washington continues to spend billions of dollars of tax payer money on political pork,” Reed said. “That is unacceptable.”

“I applaud the legislation to make these requests completely transparent in one location so that the public can easily see exactly which members of Congress are asking for what special money,” Reed said. “While Sen. Gillibrand is an unapologetic requester of political pork, I applaud her commitment to transparency.”

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