Earmark Reform
In the 109th Congress, John Sununu voted for the Coburn Amendment to the THUD Appropriations bill to strike funding for the Alaskan “Bridge to Nowhere” and spend the funding to replace bridges that collapsed in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina. The amendment was defeated on October 20, 2005, by a vote of 15-82.
Also during the 109th Congress, John cosponsored Sen. McCain’s “Pork-Barrel Reduction Act” (S. 2265). Other cosponsors included Senators Feingold, Kyl, Bayh, Ensign, Graham, Coburn, DeMint, and Cornyn. Many of the original concepts from the Pork-Barrel Reduction Act were eventually included in the final ethics and lobbying reform law in the 110th Congress.
During Senate consideration of the Lott ethics and lobbying bill in the 109th Congress, John Sununu offered an amendment to extend on the Internet the availability of (1) a list of earmarks and (2) conference reports from 24 hours to 48 hours prior to consideration by the full Senate. This amendment was adopted unanimously. Moreover, John cosponsored a number of reform amendments by Sen. McCain, which included various provisions of the Pork-Barrel Reduction Act.
In the 110th Congress, the Senate considered and passed S. 1, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. John supported the bill when it passed the Senate on January 18, 2007 and again when the Senate agreed to concur with the House amendment to the Senate bill on August 2, 2007. President Bush signed the bill into law on September 14, 2007 (P.L. 110-81). The law deals with a host of issues pertaining to ethics and lobbying. It also includes several provisions dealing with earmarks, including a number of provisions from the Pork-Barrel Reduction Act.
In the 110th Congress, John voted for the DeMint Amendment during the Senate consideration of the Budget Resolution. The DeMint Amendment would have imposed a moratorium on congressionally directed spending (i.e., earmarks) for fiscal year 2009. The Amendment was defeated on March 13, 2008, by a vote of 29-71.
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