Today word came out that the House GOP Conference has just adopted a complete earmark ban for the rest of the year in order to curb spending and hold the Democrats accountable.

Here are what some members of the Republican Study Committee are saying, with two of them being a part of the Indiana Delegation.

Rep. Dan Burton (IN-5)

Because of the irresponsible spending and public outrage over largess in Congress, I have sworn to not request, and to vote against, earmarks since 2007.  Until today, I was one of just thirty-two members of Congress to take that pledge.  Today, with the entire conference of House Republicans adopting our ban on all earmarks, we have sent a clear message to the American people that we are serious about cutting spending, and serious about an ethical appropriations process in Congress

Rep. Mike Pence (IN-6)

No doubt earmarks are being talked about in a different way by the democratic majority. Democrats were cutting “backroom deals” to persuade reluctant House Democrats to vote for the president’s proposal, and said “the American people want us to change business as usual.

Rep. Eric Cantor (VA-7)

Democrats’ promises to clean up Washington politics “is being broken every day.”

Rep. John Boehner (OH-8)

For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington, Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we’re serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks.

You can read the full article here from The Daily Caller and here is the list of t the 32 members in the Republican Study Committee that signed unto this total earmark ban.

Read more after the leap

President Obama and Senator Bayh

By: Brian Sikma

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (D) has long been perceived as a moderate Democrat with conservative fiscal leanings.  His opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal on March 4 helped reinforce this perception.  Titled “Deficits and Fiscal Credibility“, the op-ed made an excellent case for why President Obama should refuse to sign the $410 billion omnibus spending bill that takes care of unfinished spending business from last year.

Critics of the omnibus spending bill have pointed out that it grows the budgets of various government agencies and departments by about 8% and includes nearly 9,000 special interest “earmark” projects.  At a time when American families and businesses are trimming their budgets to reflect the realities of the economic downturn, the federal government should not be expanding the budgets of various agencies and embarking on the fulfillment of a 9,000 item goodie list that bails out special interests and leaves Americans holding an empty bag.

Some may say it took a certain level of political courage for Senator Bayh to urge his fellow Senators to vote against a bill heavily supported by his Party’s leadership in the House and the President of his own party.  The issuing of a direct challenge to the president to live up to the hope filled promises of the campaign trail by vetoing the bill was certainly a welcome development, but a closer look at Senator Bayh’s record and recent history illustrates a problem not with the message, but with the messenger.

As Senator Bayh argues for credibility in Washington on fiscal matters and the deficit, his record in the days leading up to the op-ed’s publication illustrates a deficit of credibility on his part.  Just 19 days before issuing his call for fiscal discipline, Senator Bayh voted in favor of H.R. 1, the President’s $790 billion economic stimulus plan.  The real cost of the plan runs well over $1 trillion by the time you add in the interest that will accrue from the new debt that will have to be issued to cover the spending spree.

Voting in favor of a $790 billion stimulus bill that is not timely, targeted, or temporary, (to paraphrase the advice of one the President’s own economic advisors) is not an exercise in fiscal discipline.  Nor is it an exercise in political courage for Senator Bayh to carefully dust off his conservative credentials just before a potentially heated re-election campaign in 2010.

To eliminate this credibility deficit, Senator Bayh and lawmakers like him who talk the talk but fail to walk the walk need to begin acting on their stated principles and not just talking about them.  Voting for bailouts and stimulus bills and then turning around to seize the high ground against a spending package with misplaced priorities is not what constituents need.   The American people deserve to be served by leaders who understand that wasteful government spending is always bad, no matter how distant or how close the next election may be.

(Last week’s letter to my district)

I am writing this today as I react to the events of the past week.

My office received literally thousands of calls supporting my decision to vote against the $700 billion dollar Wall Street bailout bill. They thought this money was excessive, undemocratic and was anti free market. I agreed and that’s why I voted against the bailout- twice.

But that’s not the worst of it. The bill also included, in the end, over $100 billion dollars more in pork spending. That included money for motorsports track owners, excise tax breaks for rum imported from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, and money for Hollywood movie makers.

Let me say this again- $100 Billion more in Pork.

I am thoroughly disgusted. And I’m sure you are too.

As long as I am your Congressman, I will continue to fight for taxpayers over these special interests. I am sorry to say that my efforts to stop this bailout (along with members of both parties) failed this time.

I’ll continue to do my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

From the “You Gotta Be Kidding Files” congress is voting on an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations bill for an “alien” project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence.  Yep, that’s right!  We’re not talking border crossers, we’re talking “E.T. phone home”.  Unbelievable!

From Congressman Burton’s congressional blog:

Pork Platter Menu : $1,000,000 for alien research

In the first installment of the Thursday Pork Platter we’ve got $1,000,000 of your tax dollars served up for “alien research.

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 for checking this week’s platter, and we’ll serve up another peice of pork for you next week.