The Burton Blog

Kudos to Burton for standing on principle and against earmarks

The mayor of Greenfield, Brad DeReamer, praised Congressman Burton for holding true to values throughout the rough economic times in his post to the Indianapolis Star.

It was refreshing to see in The Star's March 6 editorial, "They can't pass up the pork,'' a compliment to U.S. Rep. Dan Burton for his principled stand against pork-barrel earmarks. Too many times in the past, conservative talk has been cheap, and party leaders have folded when it came time to practice proper spending habits. I'm pleased to see Burton taking the lead in Washington and keeping his word to be a fiscal conservative, even when almost all the other congressional representatives are buying into business as usual. Rep. Mike Pence also is standing firm in his conservative commitment.

Some people in Greenfield, the community I serve and where I live, might argue that an earmark or two would be helpful. While it might create jobs in the short run, in the long run we'll all pay dearly for the tax-and-spend mayhem.

During an economic crisis like America is experiencing, it would be easy to sacrifice moral principal for a quick fix, so I'm thankful we have a few "stubborn old conservatives" like Burton to apply pressure to those who continue to spend without thought of the consequences and financial burdens being placed on society.

Brad DeReamer

Mayor

Greenfield

Club for Growth quotes Dan on Earmarks

The Club for Growth quotes a great Dan Burton post on Earmarks.

From Rep. Dan Burton's blog:

As you will agree, efficient and effective operation of the Department of Defense (DOD) is critical to ensuring the security of our nation and the safety of our troops. Thankfully, because of the efforts of a few of my colleagues and I, from FY2006 to FY2007 the number of pork barrel projects decreased. But that didn’t stop a Representative from California from adding $1,000,000 to the DOD appropriations bill for an “alien” project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Nonsense like this provoked me to pledge not to request any earmarks for the 2009 fiscal budget. While Federal dollars can be used properly to support local areas, I had to set an example for my colleagues and pledge against a single cent of pork until the system is reformed. Would alien research get approved in an up or down vote on the House floor? If I were a betting man I'd say it wouldn't.

Thanks CFG.