Jack Kingston

Yesterday at the weekly meeting of the Republican Study Committee (of which Rep. Kingston is a member), Congressman Kingston passed out a document which notes the Appropriations Committee’s progress toward fiscal responsibility which includes de-funding (Washington -speak for “eliminating”) 95 federal programs and a reduction in nearly all spending bills this year.

Right now the House is debating the Legislative Line Item Veto Act, legislation which Jack co-sponsored earlier this year. He just gave the following speech urging his colleagues to pass this legislation:

Mr. Kingston: I am proud that this year the House Appropriations Committee has eliminated 95 different programs and greatly reduced the number of member projects and earmarks, and each year receive about 25,000 requests for earmarks.

And yet if there’s another tool out there that we can use to scrutinize spending, I don’t think that any of us should be afraid to do it.

I support the Line Item Veto [Act]…It would give the President of the United States a tool and it would give a self-imposed threat to this chamber to make sure that anything that we put in the bill would stand the test of public scrutiny and transparency.

If I put an earmark in the Appropriations Bill, I ought to be able to defend it, and I ought to be able to defend it not to just any Democrat or Republican on the floor of the House, but to the President of the United States and to the folks back home. I’m not afraid of this, I think this is good fiscal policy.

It builds on what the Appropriations Committee has already been doing in terms of eliminating 95 existing programs and bringing down member earmarks tremendously. So I support this bill and I hope that everybody else will.

Thank you. I yield back.