"The issue of earmarks is one that has gotten much media attention, but is also shrouded in mystery. I support Congress� ability to earmark money, but I do not support the current earmark system in any way. Allow me to explain.

"If all Congressional earmarks were eliminated tomorrow, the money allocated in the budget would then go to the administration and the agencies to be spent — moving from elected officials to unelected bureaucrats to allocate. However, moving the decision from Congress to a bureaucrat does nothing to curb corruption and will only further cloak how your money is spent. Or worse, without earmarks the members of the spending committees can "phonemark" projects without anyone ever knowing. For example, in a world where earmarks are banned a Member with the authority over a certain agency's budget would be able to call the agency and could influence the process without anyone knowing and with the illusion that it was the agency — not the Member — who made the decision. This would only foster greater corruption. Although recent scandals have been brought to light showing the failings of individuals and abuse of the process, the only reason they came to light was because there was a record by which to connect the dots. This is why I would support the following:

"1. All earmarks requested by members of Congress should be made available, online, weeks before they are voted on. The only true disinfectant is sunshine.
"2. All earmarks requested by members of Congress should be open for public comment and should receive an up or down vote.
"3. All spending done by federal agencies, with the exception of classified spending, should be available, online, in near real-time so the American taxpayer can see what is being spent and where the money is going.
"4. All earmarks requested by members of Congress should identify who requested the earmark, what relationship, if any, they have with the member, and the member should have to sign off that they have no financial interest in the earmark whatsoever.

"Lastly, because of the way the federal budget works, eliminating all earmarks tomorrow will have ZERO affect on the size of the budget. Thought of another way, eliminating earmarks is like cutting a pizza into 7 pieces instead of 8. The size of the pizza, like the size of the budget and the size of government, will not shrink one cent if we eliminate earmarks. Shrinking the budget, the size of government and addressing entitlement spending is vastly more important to our future budget discipline than earmarks."

9 — Congress has not adopted a balanced budget in years. Do you believe it is desirable, or even possible, to have a balanced federal budget? What would you do as a congressman to get a balanced budget?

"I have voted for and support: