Democratic congress full of pork

In November 2006, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi assured the American people that she would "make this the most honest, ethical, and open Congress in history" and "will give the American people the leadership they deserve."

The "leadership they deserve?" Is that leadership a broken promise to the American people as the Democrats change the rules to allow earmarks to be stuffed into spending bills behind closed doors after the bill has passed the House.

Taxpayers work too hard for their paychecks to be frivolously spent by the federal government on the "bridge to nowhere" type of earmarks. With more than 32,000 earmarks turned into the Appropriations Committee, we can only imagine how many more earmarks were requested of Congress that were never submitted.

I believe in transparency of the process, of people taking responsibility for the requests they make. I would like to see not just a handful, but every member of Congress publish the appropriation requests that they made so that the taxpayers are made aware of how their tax dollars may be spent.

Members of Congress who choose to fund Trout Genome Mapping, the Please Touch Museum, Women's World Soccer Cups, Rock n' Roll museums, and other pork projects are choosing to put their political gains before the best interests of the American people. A true representative of the people will work tirelessly to cut the wasteful discretionary spending and reduce the deficit; thus strengthening the national economy and creating jobs.

Americans are not taxed too little; Washington just spends entirely too much. The best way to get Congress to stop wasteful spending is to let those who earn it, keep it.

While the Democratic controlled Congress is going back on their pledge of openness and transparency, their underhanded attempts at passing pork-filled spending bills for the upcoming fiscal year must be stopped.

Now more than ever, Congress must work diligently to craft appropriation bills for the next fiscal year that not only enable us to carry out our missions abroad but also maintain and improve the lives of our citizens.

Either we tie the hands of Washington or it will tie the hands of our children and grandchildren. That is an easy choice for me to make. Now is the critical time for Congress to step up to the plate and do what is necessary to control earmarking that has gone awry. If not now then when?