{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/draining-the-swamp_us-house-republicans-head-into--secret-meeting-to-bring-back-earmarks-for-politicians-pet-projects", "‘Draining the swamp?’ – U.S. House Republicans Head into  Secret Meeting to Bring Back Earmarks for Politicians’ Pet Projects", "2016-11-16", "2016", "2016-11", "Democrat", "House", "MO", "Claire McCaskill", "M001170", "www.mccaskill.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "\u2018Draining the swamp?\u2019 \u2013 U.S. House Republicans Head into  Secret Meeting to Bring Back Earmarks for Politicians\u2019 Pet Projects \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t McCaskill\u2014Senate\u2019s leading Democratic opponent of earmarks\u2014pledges to strip or block any earmarks that emerge  from the House of Representatives, and calls on Missouri\u2019s House delegation to reject the secret vote \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWednesday, November 16, 2016\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tWASHINGTON \u2013 Days after a Republican President was elected with a promise to \u201cdrain the swamp,\u201d reports have surfaced that U.S. House Republicans are headed today into a secret meeting to attempt to bring back congressional earmarks\u2014taxpayer funding for politicians\u2019 pet projects. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, the Senate\u2019s leading Democratic opponent of earmarks, called on Missouri\u2019s U.S. House delegation to reject such a vote, and pledged to use Senate rules to strip any earmarks that emerge from the U.S. House:\r\n\u201cSo Donald Trump is elected President with a promise to \u2018drain the swamp\u2019 and the one of the first things his party in the U.S. House does is head into a closed-door meeting to try to bring back earmarks?\u201d asked McCaskill, a former Missouri State Auditor. \u201cThis is exactly what Americans are mad about. Missouri\u2019s U.S. House members and all House Republicans need to reject this idea, and if they don\u2019t, I\u2019m going to do everything I can to block any earmarks that emerge from the House.\u201d\r\nFor years, the earmarking process was notorious for its secrecy and lack of oversight or accountability, with funding for politicians' pet projects often awarded based on political influence instead of on merit. McCaskill has never requested any earmarks, and has led the fight to permanently ban earmarks from the legislative process. After working with her colleagues to establish a temporary ban on earmarks, McCaskill and Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania introduced the Earmark Elimination Act, which would expand the ongoing temporary moratorium on earmarks to a permanent ban. Specifically, the legislation would ban all earmarks, and define earmarks as any congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit.\r\nMcCaskill has also led efforts to claw back previously earmarked funds. $72.6 million across Missouri is currently going to support local needs instead of politicians\u2019 pet projects after the Missouri Department of Transportation, using new authority approved by Congress last year, redirected the unspent, previously earmarked funds to other projects across the state. These funds were originally earmarked by Congress for use 10 or more years ago, but because they were duplicates, or the project was scrapped, among other reasons\u2014the funds were never used. Until this year, these funds couldn\u2019t be spent on anything other than for what they were earmarked. A provision included in last year\u2019s highway bill, based on legislation McCaskill introduced with Republican Senator Jeff Flake, allowed these resources to be spent on critically needed transportation and infrastructure projects within a 50-mile radius of the project site of the original earmark.\r\nEarlier this year, McCaskill teamed up with Republican Senator Rob Portman of Ohio to successfully pass into law a plan to simplify trade processes for America\u2019s manufacturers and guard against the return of Congressional earmarks.\r\nIn May, McCaskill was named a \u201cFiscal Hero\u201d by the advocacy group Fix The Debt, for her commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars, cutting government waste and strengthening accountability in Washington. Fix The Debt is a nonpartisan group dedicated to putting America on a better fiscal and economic path.\r\nVisit mccaskill.senate.gov /spending to see more about McCaskill\u2019s fight to protect taxpayer dollars.\r\n###\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\tPrint\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tEmail\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t  \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTweet", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.mccaskill.senate.gov/media-center/news-releases/draining-the-swamp_us-house-republicans-head-into--secret-meeting-to-bring-back-earmarks-for-politicians-pet-projects"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.9053309224545956, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}