As the president of the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, I am writing to express my gratitude to Rep. Harris Fawell (R-Ill.) for his introduction and lead sponsorship of a bill to save taxpayers billions of dollars.
The bill (H.R. 2642), co-sponsored by Tim Penny (D-Minn.), is aimed at combating the particularly wasteful and extremely costly practice of pork-barrel spending which has been going on since Congress first convened in 1789.
H.R. 2642 would eliminate 325 items of pork-barrel spending in the fiscal year 1991 appropriation bills. The list has been determined by an objective set of criteria defined in the act. If the projects in the act are rescinded, it would result in over $1 billion in savings for U.S. taxpayers.
This legislation forces Congress to look at projects more closely and determine their necessity with greater prudence and caution, and above all to do so with a higher regard for who really pays for these projects-the taxpayer. The sponsoring member is really not relevant. It`s the system that`s at fault.
Rep. Fawell should be commended for his courage in taking the lead on this problem.
