Comments about ‘Rep. Jason Chaffetz decides not to seek $280 million in earmarks this year’

What good is he then?
If he can not get money for our state.
We will see how long he keeps this "promise" anyway.
When is the next election so we can kick him out?

Someone else will get the money. The list of projects seemed very much needed. They don't sound like pork-barrel money stuffing. What will he show as his accomplishments? What does he do in DC if he's not advocating or pushing for his people's needs? Whenever the next election is or however long he's in office, that's how long his people's needs are behind. Some of these funds may never be available again?

Chaffetz isn't a real representative, but he plays one on TV if you're interested. Thank you once again, for ensuring that your constituents don't get any money for the projects they are paying taxes for. Better to leave all of that money for those states with morals low enough to use it. And don't give me the crap about wasting so much money in "pork" either--not even a pebble in the congressional sidewalk of spending. You really want to cut funding for something Chaffetz? Try the defense budget since it accounts for some 60% of national funding--but that wouldn't be too popular now would it.

We need more politicians to stand on principle. The role of the federal government is not to tax us and then return funds to the states to fund projects. Are you kidding me, these are things that should be funded by the states, not given funding through back room political deals in Washington. Thank you Jason!

What good is he? He is great! He is NOT another political prostitute. Look over these projects, and almost none of them are worthy of being federally funded. Just because other states and politicians use THEFT and deceit to buy votes does not mean we should support it. "Everyone else is stealing..." that mentality is what gave us our current situation.

Nice attitude you guys. Your are killing freedom and patriotism.

Where does a congressman "get money for our state"? By taking it from another state. It's about time someone calls it honestly, and that's what I sent Chaffetz back east to do. If he's the only honest man in Congress, and if it costs me some civic center or freeway restroom, I'm OK with that.

Couldn't have said it better myself. The Federal Government controls way too much and the states are left to beg for handouts. Keep the funds locally and let the states decide how to best spend it.

Amen Principle! I think that 60% in defense spending is awesome.. since that it is one of the main reasons for the federal government!

You cannot complain that you pay too much in taxes and then criticize Rep Chaffetz for not wanting to spend your money. While all of these projects may be good and worthy projects, there is no Federal interest in them. We have become so programed to think that the Federal Govt is the tooth fairy that we forget where it gets its money. Thank you Rep Chaffetz. I can't vote for you, but I would if I could. Remember these famous words from Thomas Jefferson. "The government that can give you everything, is powerfull enough to take everything away."

Factually, earmarks amount to a tiny speck of federal spending, less than one half of one percent of all federal spending. The real problem is growth in entitlement spending, and Stimulus and bailouts. Get a handle on those. Some earmarks are disgusting, but some are very good. The Global Positioning System (GPS) started out as a defense earmark, as did unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Not all earmarks are evil. It's like people; the bad ones give the rest a very bad name. Banning earmarks is a sad admission that an elected Congressperson doesn't have enough common sense to distinguish between the two.

Finally a politician with some courage to stand up for what's right. Get rid of all other politicians who don't do the same!

'WASHINGTON – Rep. Jason Chaffetz's on-and-off personal ban on earmarks is back on.'


So, Chaffetz petitioned for earmarks...

and now he's not?

And he's standing up for something?

Sounds like 'flip-floping' to me.

Earmarks are Congress' way--and their responsibility--of making sure that the public knows how their tax dollars are spent. When Congress doesn't specify how the money is spent then the spending decision falls to the Executive branch. Removing earmarks from a spending bill doesn't reduce the cost of the bill. Chaffetz didn't save the country $280 Million. He basically gave the White House a $280 Million blank check with his name on it. Spending cuts need to happen but earmarks aren't the answer. They're just easy to attack because everybody has their own opinion about what's an appropriate earmark. One person's pork is another person's "vital pubic program." A more effective means of curbing government spending is to put an end to corporate welfare such as farm subsidies which account for tens of BILLIONS of wasted tax dollars every year, not penny-panti projects that don't account for even half a percent of the federal budget (which, again, would be spent anyway).

The guys on these blogs who are in favor of earmarks are Democrats. They're probably the local precinct chairs. That's why we're in the mess we're in. Good for you Jason.

So, lets see what he does next year. He will be feeding in the trough same as the rest of them. Just watch!

Just noticed a typo: "penny-panti" should have been "penny-ante."

@Cats. Way to make an assumption about people you don't know. I, for one, am not a Democrat. I am not affiliated with any political party. And if you look at all the earmarks you'll find the ratio of Democrat to Republican sponsored earmarks to be about the same as the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in Congress. No party has a monopoly on earmarks. There are plenty of earmark supporters on both sides of the aisle.

He should KEEP the funds local before refusing earmarks. We just end up paying for every other state's earmarks and get nothing. I hate earmarks as much as the next person, but Chaffetz should work to ban earmarks all together. In the meantime, he should grab back all he can for his constituents in Utah who are pouring money into the federal earmark mill.

Democrats plan to cut all earmarks from spending bills. That, on top of the Democrats implementing "pay as you go".... pretty much leaves the Republicans in the Porky Spendy camp.

Thanks a lot Jason. Way to make sure the tax money flows out of Utah, not in to Utah.

RE: Cats--

This is one Democrat who has seen many more Republicans than Democrats take government handouts. I'm currently attending university, and I've never received a grant or any sort of federal aid, heck, I've never even applied. . .but I know plenty of Republicans who have received a lot of financial help from the federal government to finance their "education." I've seen financial aid used to fund such things as vacations and cars. I think some of them even used their federal education grants to pay for school.

So, Cats, it may be more fair to say that both sides of the aisle have problems with greed, financial responsibility, and misuse of taxpayer money. To blame one party is not at all accurate. It's both parties that have problems. They just have different names.