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According to Boehner:
Three GOP members of the House Appropriations Committee — Reps. Jack Kingston of Georgia, Frank Wolf of Virginia and Zack Wamp of Tennessee — have authored legislation that would bring the earmark process to a halt and establish a panel to identify ways to permanently change the spending process. Kingston-Wolf-Wamp has been cosponsored by 129 House Republicans, including the entire House Republican leadership team. However, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who as leader of the Democrat-controlled House has the power to shut down the chamber’s earmarking process immediately, declined to support the measure or the proposed moratorium.
In FY2008, the taxpayers footed the bill for $16,872,000,000 worth of earmarks. To put that in perspective, let's play my favorite game: What would you do with $16,872,000,000?
- For those of you who think earmarks are small potatoes, with $16.8 billion you could buy 54 billion pounds of potatoes. That's enough for every American to eat a pound of potatoes every day for six months, which I understand will turn you Irish.
- For the couch potatoes out there, (I promise this is my last potato-themed suggestion) you could buy 14 million Epson MovieMate 72 inch 3LCD Projectors with Built-In DVD Player, at the low low price of $1,199.99 per projector.
- For the travel-lovers, you could rent a 1,000 square foot Edwardian Suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (complete with 24-karat gold-plated faucets, wall-mounted plasma TV, personalized butler service, and a free USA Today) for 9 million weeks (or until your room is located about 2 feet below sea level).
- For the taxpayer-friendly, you could give every man, woman and child currently living in America a check for $55.62.
- And most importantly, for those of you who love our troops, you could pay every soldier currently serving in Iraq $112,480.
Here's to hoping that Congress finally realize that these small potatoes add up.