Ron Paul one of only four House Republicans to request earmarks for 2011 budget (UPDATED)
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UPDATE: The original version of this article incorrectly listed earmarks from Fiscal Year 2010 as requests in Fiscal Year 2011. TAI drew those numbers from the Taxpayers for Common Sense which listed the earmarks from the wrong year. The earmark totals in the updated version have been drawn from Paul’s website, where each individual request from both 2010 and 2011 may be viewed. We apologize for the the error.
U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) was one of only four House Republicans to break rank from the party and request earmarks despite a Republican Conference earmark moratorium. Paul sent 41 earmark requests totaling $157,093,544 for the 2011 Fiscal Year. His largest single request was $19,500,000 for a naval training ship at the Texas Maritime Academy in Galveston, followed by a $18,126,000 to provide maintenance on the Matagorda Ship Channel.
For Fiscal Year 2010, Paul requested 54 total earmarks, adding up to $398,460,640 in pork that the former presidential candidate sought to bring home to his district. These requests were made prior to the House Republican Conference’s voluntary ban on filing earmarks.
Paul’s largest request in 2010 was $51.5 million in federal money to be spent on “Reconstruction of Bluewater Highway Hurricane Evacuation Route Between Brazoria and Galveston Counties in Texas.” He requested another $50 million to be directed to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and $46 million for deepening the Texas City channel. The majority of Paul’s requests were for projects related to various ports and channels, though other sectors of his district also received attention, such as $20 million for a hospital in Chambers County. Even smaller projects received attention from the libertarian representative, such as $2.5 million requested “to redevelop historic downtown area and to purchase trash cans, bike racks and decorative street lighting” in Baytown.
While Paul requested these earmarks, he can still claim to have voted against the spending. Here’s how he defended his earmarking habit when he was challenged during a Fox News interview in 2009:
I think you’re missing the whole point. I have never voted for an earmark. I voted against all appropriation bills. So, this whole thing about earmarks is totally misunderstood.
Earmarks is the responsibility of the Congress. We should earmark even more. We should earmark every penny. So, that’s the principle that we have to follow and the — and the responsibility of the Congress. The whole idea that you vote against an earmark, you don’t save a penny. That just goes to the administration and they get to allocate the funds.
Taxpayers for Common Sense released a database Tuesday of all the earmarks requested by members of Congress for Fiscal Year 2011. Over $130 billion was requested across 39,294 earmarks. With most House Republicans abstaining from the process, the majority of those requests came from Congressional Democrats. House Democrats requested over $51 billion, outpaced by Senate Democrats with just under $55 billion. On the other hand Senate Republicans only asked for $22 billion, with the four House Republicans accounting for a little over $1 billion in earmark requests. Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu had the highest request total for the year at around $4.5 billion.
From 2008-2010, the average Texas congressman brought back $74 million in earmarks, according to an analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics and Taxpayers for Common Sense, as the Texas Independent previously reported. In those three years, Paul sponsored/co-sponsored 45 successful earmarks totaling nearly $120 million. That was the sixth-greatest total among U.S. House members from Texas.
Of the five U.S. House members who brought home more total earmarked money than Paul, three were defeated in the November elections — Democratic U.S. Reps. Chet Edwards, Solomon Ortiz and Ciro Rodriguez (who all have large military installations in or near their districts.)
Ron Paul has his snout in the trough right in there with the rest of them. It is not principled to introduce legislation and then vote against it knowing full well that the rest of the House and Senate will vote for it.
A principled stand would be for the Congressman to never introduce a single piece of spending legislation that is not expressly authorized by the Constitution.
pork does not equal earmark. The money is going to be spent whether it is earmarked or not. Earmarking it just gives our elected representatives a say in where the money goes so we’re not giving a blank check to some random government head who can spend it however they see fit.
@jason and anyone else who does not what they are talking about.
Ron Paul did not “introduce the legislation” referred to in the article. In fact, he voted against it. It was only AFTER IT PASSED that he requested the funding go to his district. That is what congressman are supposed to do. They are supposed to fight for their district especially when there is out of control spending in Washington. It is the only way we get our money back.
Thus, your comment is completely erroneous. And I don’t know what this article’s purpose is. Does the author understand that the constitution directs congress to determine where the money is spent, not the treasury? Earmarks are meaningless. They do nothing to limit spending. They just determine where the money is spent.
The important thing here is that Ron Paul never voted for any of these spending measures.
Paul puts the money for his district into the earmarks for his district, knowing that it will be passed anyway, but then he can say that he voted against it. His tactics like this are well known to everyone in Texas, as well as his dishonesty!
What a trooper. What a d. liar. I’ll be glad when this old coot retires.
Fascinating ! Just A Girl In Shorts . has now become one of my must-reads. I love her style, hutogh I imagine if push came to shove that she would whoop my ass, both physically and intellectually. A girl after my own heart, and not to be messed with unless you have the goods to back yourself up.I remember that my significant other Chainsaw and I went to some kind of Republican strategy meeting a year or two back. They did the usual breakout into focus groups, brainstorming, etc. Chainsaw and I were in different groups, but we had the same reaction as we (somewhat quickly) escaped: Get me outttta here ! . Although I can hardly afford to be an ageist, I had the impression that the Republican party consisted primarily of vodka-preserved, eye-brow-enhanced, archaic, throaty, dottering Stepford wives on a mission to save the world. Only problem is, it was their world they were trying to save, not anyone else’s. The men were smooth, slick, tie-strangled, and reeked of expensive aftershave. We couldn’t leave fast enough.I find it interesting that you, a history professor steeped in academia, probably have more in common with Chainsaw, a self-described Florida-cracker, welder, biker, and self-taught geek, than you would with anyone at that Republican strategy meeting. You say: What should scare them is that we’ll all get together, build a real Libertarian political party, start engaging in politics from the ground up, and find ourselves some real candidates instead of our current set of entertaining place-holders. Scare them, indeed.
So Dr. Paul requests 358 M in projects for his district that originated from the constituents of his district requesting allocations of congressional funds that would otherwise be spent by the Executive branch if Congress does not spend the money…so what! He does not vote in favor of them but does his job as the congressional rep from his district to bring forth the requests. These all look pretty legitimate to me especially since there is a major port which I believe is part of the intercoastal waterway and oh yeah they did have a devastating hurricane down there. He is not beholden to lobbyists nor is he “paying off” large contributors because most of his contributions come from individual supporters.
Stop trying to make a meany out of the finest congressman on the Hill…I only wish I could claim his as my congressman.
Dr. Ron Paul 2012…the president we should have had, the president we need.
Dr Paul wants to cut spending. He follows the Constitution. The money should have never been sent to DC. Texans money should stay in Texas.
@ Jason-
“A principled stand would be for the Congressman to never introduce a single piece of spending legislation that is not expressly authorized by the Constitution.”
Scott Frisch and Sean Kelly point out that directing money to particular purposes is a core Constitutional function of Congress. If Congress does not make a specific allocation, the task falls to the executive branch; there is no guarantee that the allocation made by executive agencies will be superior to Congress’s.[11] Presidents and executive officials can use the allocation of spending to reward friends and punish enemies.[12] The process of earmarking has been substantially reformed since the beginning of the 110th Congress. Members of Congress must post all their requests on their websites and they must sign a certification letter (which are then put online) indicating that neither they nor their spouse has financial interest in the earmark request.[13] Many members have instituted an applications process that their constituents must undergo for earmark requests.[14] Finally, member-directed projects constitute less than 2 percent of the federal budget.
Would you prefer the executive branch to decide where the money goes, or your representative? This Republican earmark ban is nothing more than show, and will hurt them in the end…
Furthermore, Ron Paul wants to eliminate the income tax, so his constituents (and everyone else’s) wouldn’t have to send all that money to DC and then fight to have it “appropriated through earmarks” back to them. Let them keep their money in the first place and bingo! No need for earmarks. Amazing concept!
Even when spelled out by Paul and others the condensation rhetoric continues.
What don’t you people understand? The Feds already allocate the money for the states, either the feds decide where it AL the money (YOUR money) goes or your local representatives through earmarking have a small say.
Why in the world would you prefer the federal government decide where every penny is spent in your state rather than your local representatives having a say? It makes no sense. We need MORE earmarks so YOU have more or a say where YOUR money is spent.
the thing about Ron Paul is that he is consistent and has a logical reason behind every vote he casts. Ron Paul is not bought and paid for like most politicians, he actually reads the bill and votes according to the confines of the Constitution. I trust this man and he has proven himself by his words and actions that he is a champion of the Constitution.
If representatives don’t earmark then the money simply goes to the Executive Branch to be spent on whatever the hell they want. Do Republicans actually want to hand Obama a blank check to do with as he pleases???
Requesting earmarks then not voting for them should give one pause – not at Dr. Paul but at the corrupt and illegal system of states sending money for unconstitutional spending. The states should be collecting and spending tax money on needed projects within the state and the Feds should be begging for earmarks from the states if they can justify how a project will benefit the individual states they ask to contribute. The whole system and the process will ultimately have to be changed back to a weak federal government dependent upon warranted state support. It cannot survive “as is.” It can happen if men become men again and women become activists for their sovereignty as they once did. The longer we wait to restore our republic the more it will hurt.
Okay, so I’ve been straightened out as to how earmarks work. Congress funds the agency and then congressmen and senators direct how the money is going to be spent and leave some left over for the administration to spend. Ron Paul votes against the funding, but then directs how some of it will be spent.
What a clever way of directing money to his district so he can truthfully say, “I never voted for it.”
I’ll grant everyone here on this comment forum who took me to task that there is a difference between earmarking and outright funding something through legislation. But it’s not much. It’s trickery and fraud. Smoke and mirrors.
First, no agency’s money should have a slush fund so that projects can then be directed home to the district or state. If money can be earmarked or directed from an agency’s budget, then the agency was over-funded. That’s wrong.
Second, if any person, non-profit, for-profit, or other entity is taking government money in the district or the state, they are also the problem. All government checks ought to be refused. Taking government checks is slavery to government. And I don’t think it is much of an overstatement to say that Ron Paul is making government slaves out of the people and entities in his district. By directing or earmarking money to his district, he’s encouraging dependency upon government.
And that is utterly shameful.
He ought to be encouraging the people and entities within his district to find ways to wean themselves from government checks and to be self-sufficient.
This whole claim of manipulation is swmeohat ridiculous. In setting up many of these internet polls programmers specifically block this kind of manipulation. MSNBC’s poll did not allow you to vote more than once, and their programmers would be able to see such manipulation. I am a Ron Paul supporter. I search the web several days a week for news articles and interesting tidbits regarding Ron Paul. Yeah, there is some quasi-organization that builds, if I regularly read a site and they link to a poll, I follow the link and I vote for him. Its that simple. This is no more than what other candidates are able to do, and less since he doesn’t have access to mainstream news sources to help drive traffic, so I fail to see why this is deemed manipulation rather than true support. I found this site through Google though, not through some imaginary underground Ron Paul network. I’m an interested individual, not some bot program running in the background.As for the meet-ups, that shows true support. I was able to find other interested people through that site. Most of the people in my group, like myself, have never been politically active in a campaign before. We’ve just been inspired by this one candidate.
That is because he realizes that those trying to make earmarks into a big thing are really pushing to give the executive power of the purse, contrary to the Constitution and representative principles handed down since the Magna Carta. SOME use earmarks as bribes ‘I’ll vote for this if you give me that…’, but Ron NEVER does — he never votes for the spending in the ultimate bill. The congress is supposed to specify where it goes, not the administrative agencies behind closed doors.
I’m glad we still have ONE Congressman who can think.
Classless @$$hatsi think if a tenth of these retards ever erokwd for a living they would have a small amount of respect for someone who was a giant in an industry that increasingly tried to ignore him, the fact that i read Harvey on rock stations is a testament to his popularity
I’m appreciative for all the comments I have read, constructive and invigorating. After I read the article, what confused me was that some of Paul’s requested earmarks were for cities. That’s only a local matter. Recieving federal funds, except for certain infrastrucure indicated in the Constitution, does make the receiver a slave of the federal government. All 50 states have become slaves and subsideraries of the US government. I believe Texas or anyone paying the undo funds (or other than just taxes) in, are legally and fairly intitled to get funds back. In that respect it seems justifiable to get earmarks for local use. On the one hand we want to gain all of freedoms back, while on the other hand we’ve been swindled and want our money back. Isn’t that fair to say. It is all such a quagmire, a quagmire !.
I forgot to say Ron Paul is my choice for 2012 President-Elect.
Who were the other Republicans (other than Ron Paul)?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig7/phillips5.html
This “news” is a misleading attempt to smear Ron Paul and his ethics. Before you decide to demonize Dr. Paul , please read the link above and then decide. Get the whole story first!
Shame on Patrick Caldwell for this hack journalism!
Ron Paul is loading bills he knows will pass, even if he votes against them, with his own pork.
It’s his way of saying he “voted for it before he voted against it”. He’s nothing but a double talking double dealing politician having it both ways. His little Paulista followers are just like Obamabots, following him around excusing every move. The other cult of personality.
Funny ya never see a picture of the back of Paul Harvey”… Because ya’d see the hole where the hand goes that runs his jaw . . .
Dr. Pul has 3 serious points that few ever listen to.
1) The term “earmark” is often misunderstood to mean “pork” when in fact it should be understood to mean “pinpoint”. When congress goes to pass, lets say a highway bill totaling $500million every congressman can ask for a SLICE of that $500m and that slice is called an “earmark” The earmark does NOT add a penny to the original $500m it just pinpoints it to a particular district or project.
2) Earmarking/pinpointing is EXACTLY what congress is suppose to do, otherwise all the money NOT earmarked goes to the White House for them to spend however they jolly well please. (and they spend so wisely over there)
3) If we as a nation were not taxed as much to the Feds that would free up taxes for the states to levy to support their OWN projects instead of having all money being laundered through the federal government and smaller states supporting the projects of larger ones. The USA was never meant to be run in a top down fashion with all money passing through Mordor in the Potomac.
Ron Paul’s staunch anti-war agmssee was his greatest draw. His staunch small limited government pro constitutional stance was hand in hand with this.Republicans have for a generation eroded the party into one of a socialist nationalist religious zealot filled plutocracy. Ron Paul has tried to remind the party of its conservative roots.Libertarian ideas are at their core conservative ideas. Republicans have gone in the wrong direction and are advocates of legislating morality which is an abhorrent idea as it leads to bigger more intrusive government institutions as we see today.The thing the Republican party needs to learn from Ron Paul and the R3volution is that the ideas of big government are the spawn of people wanting the government to solve every problem and weigh in on every dispute. This means more laws and more regulation and more government every time.The Republicans need to take from this lesson the most salient fact that the people want this government whittled down to as small as an operational budget as possible and this includes foreign intervention. Their is no part of the constitution that allows the Republic to act as an Empire with bases in countries all over the world. We need to start shutting this down.Look at this as the time of the Roman Empire where they abandoned Haden’s wall, marched out of England and went back to Italy for good. They did it because they could no longer afford the expense of Empire and neither can the United States today.
“He ought to be encouraging the people and entities within his district to find ways to wean themselves from government checks and to be self-sufficient.”
Let’s not forget who’s money it is! So in fact they are just getting their own money back.
Ron Paul requested these funds for responsibilities that fall within in the federal realm according to the Constitution – not for unconstitutional, private interests.
[...] [...]
[...] Ron Paul (R-TX), a constant critic of extraconstitutitional programs and spending, was one of only four House Republicans to request earmarks for his congressional district in the most recent fiscal [...]
[...] Paul continues to request earmarks. According the Texas Independent, Paul was one of only four House Republicans to break with his party’s earmark moratorium in [...]
The Koran, Shariah, the Hisba these tools exist to radicalize and reurcit whether our foreign policy drives us to build bases in foreign countries or not. From my position, I would say he was dismissed. He resigned as a result. Our soldiers advance the cause of Liberty that is not a fairy tale. They do not occupy countries, they liberate countries. We, as liberty’s champions, as Americans, are advocates for the democratic values of self rule and human dignity. Just because progressives twist and mutate good ideas does not mean the good in the idea is lost. Concern for the environment does not become progressive pap until it mutates into climate change gloom and doom and twists into save the spotted owl anti-industrialist nonsense. Advocating for Liberty and Justice for all is not a progressive idea, it is an American idea. Is that all you have left, pull the suicidal vet card? They would probably not agree with anything either of us would say at the point of their collapse, all is fubar. Whether our foreign policy drove them to that state or not is questionable perhaps they were just tired of the Ron Paulbots evangelical streak which drives them to convert neocons, conservatives, capitalists, and Republicans into fed-wise libertarians while calling everyone who doesn’t agree with them traitors to the Tea Party. What I am sure of is that those who serve are heroes in my eyes, and those that choose to end it all by their own hand were not well counseled throughout their tours, or have not been well received upon their return. War is tough, death is pervasive it has the capacity to rub off on those without a support network. If I could give any soldier or vet seriously considering killing themselves advice, I would say don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Plus our Republican-dominated State Board of Education has made us a national auhgling stock.Texas is indeed famous. Famous for all the wrong reasons. 11. EPA – you and I (and Cedric) have wasted enough words on this. We will never agree.I’m surprised that you just don’t man up and demand that NASA be disbanded and sold piecemeal to the Chinese. They would LOVE to get their hands on NASA hardware and offer life-long careers to America’s best scientists.Break NASA up. Do it. Save the taxpayer some money. Do it. Fire every single scientist and tell them to get lost. Do it.Climate Change is real. It’s not going away because it’s not something you want to hear about.You can’t just bury your head in the sand.It won’t go away.You can call NASA “alarmists” but it’s still NASA.You can call them “warmistas” but…it’s still NASA.You can call them “high priests” and “believers” and “butt-pounding socialists” all you want but…it’s still NASA.Get rid of NASA.
[...] than his peers, a stance which would cheer TEA Party participants. But critics point out that Paul isn’t immune to grabbing earmarks for his district, which may lead to questions about how seriously he would follow through on his [...]
As a dutiful and odeniebt internet user, who happens to support Ron Paul, I need your help. Precisely what is it that I need to do to be treated as a fully-functional human being? Clearly, I’ve been in error when I chose to DIGG stories that I found interesting about the candidate I support. Apparently, supporters of other candidates do not do this, and I need to be instructed about the proper use of DIGG. Am I restricted only from DIGGing stories about the candidate? Or shall I also self-regulate myself to no longer DIGG stories that reflect opinions and political positions that the candidate and I share?This may sound like a joke, but I’m actually serious. I’m tired of being treated like a bot or a spammer . Apparently, my opinions are valued lower than yours. So, explain which of my choices are not acceptable, and I will proceed to self-censor. After all, there’s no need for you to see opinions that differ from yours. Forgive me for any part I might have played in offering those. Just tell me where I need to draw the line, because, quite frankly, I’m still confused. What is it that I’m not supposed to do? I can’t DIGG articles that someone else also chose? I can’t DIGG articles that support the candidate? I can’t DIGG the same articles that other supporters dugg? If only you people would explain it, I’d be happy to quit this vast right-wing conspiracy, but you need to let us know. We seriously don’t understand what we’re supposed to do.
Ron Paul There really is etisohmng different here.Years ago, I gave up the illusion of finding someone worthy of my vote for President. The candidates are politicians; beholden to their party, lobbyists special interest first the people last.I’ve always thought An honest politician -Yea Right! when pigs fly -I’ll believe that when I see them vote down a pay raise, give back left-over money in their office budget, and give up their obscene congressional pension Guess what! Ron Paul actually does this!Here’s etisohmng else that speaks volumes about Ron Paul’s character lobbyists don’t even bother to visit his office any more. They know that if the legislation doesn’t serve The People , and if it doesn’t follow the Constitution, he won’t vote for it.I’ve watched Ron Paul (YouTube/C-SPAN) I don’t ever recall hearing him say negative things about the other candidates. He’s running a clean campaign, always sticking to the issues, never resorting to mud-slinging like the others.Whether you agree with his ideas or not, you have to admit, it’s truly refreshing to actually find an honest politician one that actually looks out for The People , and follows the principles of our founders -no kidding!Oh here’s another thing I find very interesting, the major media outlets are essentially ignoring him, and the other candidates are trying to bar him from future presidential debates. You have to ask yourself, WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF!?
We are at a crossroads, Medusa I eapracipte your due diligence and spirit but I must be getting on with other stories and look forward to your comments in the future. But the reality is that for at least the next 15 months, we will be a part of the UN and likely will remain a part of the UN and NATO long after 2012, regardless of who comes to power even if Paul were to somehow catch fire and win the hearts of every conservative in America. You raised the question what will neocons do with this piece of information and the reality is they will deal with it in terms of geopolitics and actively work to support Israel. My contention is that both Obama and Ron Paul would actively work to disengage from supporting Israel and would justify it using punch points and zingers about how America is overextended and everything we are doing is with borrowed money. Does a weakened Israel serve America’s National Interest? That is the question I pose. Ron Paul argues that a nuclear Iran is no more of a threat than a Nuclear Russia but this argument assumes Iran is a rational player. I do not assume Iran or any Islamic Supremacist outfit Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Hizb ut Tahrir et al. are rational players. The neocon argument against a nuclear armed Iran, the neocon argument against a weakened Israeli ally, the neocon argument against radical Islam should not be dismissed out of a willful blindness in hopes of saving a few nickels, or scoring points against a lobbyist or two, when what is necessary to balance the budget and win the future is placing the American economy into overdrive and generating trillions of dollars in revenue by creating a low tax, pro-business, pro-capitalist environment. We cannot afford a nuclear-armed Iran. We cannot afford an emboldened Islamic Supremacist hegemony in the Middle East. These are my opinions, and I am sure you have yours; but, in the end, I believe we will have to disagree, knowing that we will in all probability vote for Rick Perry or Mitt Romney to stop the Obama freight train of despair and punishment.
Paul’s quite correct: earmarks do NOT increase the federal budget even one cent. That said, he’s directing some funds to his district (just like every other congressperson) because those funds were taken by taxation and already borrowed against. What’s better–earmarking everything or giving it to the President to decide how it’s spent? That said, Paul has introduced other legislation that he voted down. It’s about following the correct process, and earmarks are correct.
If you ask me in every election we have ever had, we have had to cooshe the candidate who was the lesser of two evils, today however we actually have someone who represents the constitution and gives the voice back to the American people. Ron Paul is our savior. Thank god someone who isn’t a total liar, a trilateralist, or prostitutes our democracy. If people fully knew the issues he is going to set strait for this country they would jump behind him no matter what party they felt they belonged to. America is spending far beyond it’s means, we are consuming way to much resources, and it’s the rest of the world who is paying for it. We need to escape the cluches of the Federal Reserve Banks at all cost so we can get this nation out of debt, and about the 9/11 question, Ron Paul didn’t ask the question, it was formed to try and trip him up. He makes great sence. If you want to be a slave and have your constitutional liberties stripped one by one, and those of your children, then continue to vote for people like that liar Hillary, Gulliani, or fox news’schoice Mitt Ronmney. Then keep your mouth shut for the next four to eight years and realize you’ve just nominated Goerge Bush Jr. into office. Wake up America, Ron Paul is like a life raft in a sea full of sharks.
Hash to bad it was not MOP that’s the only way he will have any peace. He’s going to lose his mind when OB spends us into oobiviln and gets voted out for pushing a Marxist agenda. The country will survive but be short a few trillion. Then we will end up swinging to far to the right.
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They would begin by asking why you wish to stop, how long you have been mioksng for and if you are truly prepared to stop.
Ok, it’s starting. The media has now officially launched it’s full fledged assault on the only candidate who is a warrior for our diminishing constitutional rights. God help us all. And people, PLEASE do not get your education from the media. Corporate criminals control what is advertised/televised. It is subtle hypnotism at it’s best. Always weigh the evidence against sources who have no ulterior motive, other than to return our once-fine country back to a state of prosperity and freedom. Thomas Jefferson is rolling in his grave…..
If you want to see what kind of legislation Paul supported and opposed, look up his report card at CongressionalReportCards.org
[...] Posted by SarasotaBound1 Which bill. Give me the exact bill. Ron Paul one of only four House Republicans to request earmarks | The American Independent Classically Liberal: Ron Paul's personal pork projects. Rep. Ron Paul Defends His Earmarks in [...]
