Mike Huckabee Bemoans Defeat of Congressional Earmark Ban

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and may do so again in 2012, offered his thoughts on Wednesday on a ban on congressional earmarks being defeated in the U.S. Senate.

Consistently casting votes like this is an indication that our politicians in Washington are more interested in bringing the pork back to their states and districts than they are about funding meritorious projects and saving tax dollars, noted Huckabee who moved to Florida earlier in the year. Until next year, the Democrats are still in control of the Congress and once again the Democrats have shown (although unfortunately supported by a disturbing number of Republicans) that they are not serious about listening to the will of the people by eliminating earmarks.

I know that the overall perception of earmarks is toxic, added Huckabee. Americans realize that federal spending is out of control and that we must take action now to rein it in -- and an earmark moratorium would have been a good way to start.

Recently, I had suggested to simply ban earmarks for the next 20 years, continued Huckabee. My reasoning is that Congress has already spent enough money for about the next 20 years, so that should just about catch them up. But if they won't go for three years, 20 years for sure isn't going to happen.

Many Democrats and some Republicans argue that earmarks are only a pebble in the sand of wasteful government spending, concluded Huckabee. But we must start somewhere. In fact, I believe that anything we can do to reduce spending immediately will be helpful. As the late Senate leader Everett Dirksen put it, A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money.

Both of Florida's two U.S. Senators -- Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican George LeMieux -- voted to ban earmarks.