Middle of the night earmarks and tax increases seem to be Congress' answer to every problem. In the Farm Bill, a bill that is supposed to deal with agriculture, Nancy Pelosi managed to slip in $170 million for salmon recovery.  In the bill to renew the Wind Production Tax Credits, House Leadership managed to include a $1.6 billion tax break for trial lawyers. 
 
It has gotten to the point that almost every bill contains an earmark that is slipped in at the last minute without review, debate or and up or down vote.
 
Congress does not have a revenue problem it has a spending problem. It is time for Congress to tighten its belt and get it spending under control. The first step is to fix the broken earmark process, by increasing transparency. Every earmark needs to be reviewed, debated and voted up or down.  Missourians are fed up with their hard earned tax dollars getting passed out as earmarks that never see the light of day.

While Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Leadership continue to pass out earmarks they treat taxpayers like a no-limit credit card they can tax anytime they spend beyond their means. Missouri taxpayers are on the hook for big spending ways of the liberals in Congress. Nancy Pelosi's latest budget included a $683 billion tax increase that will cost the average Missourian an additional $2,825 per year.
 
We need to and fundamentally change the way Washington does business and force Congress to live within its means.