While it is understandable that during this Unprecedented Health care and economic crisis, congress has decided to spend all this money, it is also a great opportunity for congress to undertake serious efforts to reduce wasteful spending. That effort should start with the elimination of earmarks. For the third year in a since the suppose it earmark moratorium, congress has set a record for earmarks according to the criteria we develop in 1991 with the bipartisan Congressional Court busters coalition. A 3. 1nouncement was percent increase over the 3. 3 billion in fiscal year 2019. Since fiscal year 1991, cagw has costinged earmarks taxpayers 375. 7 billion, so those little projects at up over time. The increase in spending occurred behind closed doors without taxpayers knowing what is going on. There are no names of legislators attached to each earmark and few details. We know in the agriculture appropriations act, theres 9 million for the Appalachian Regional Commission and Delta Regional Authority. Million int 27. 5 the energy and water bill. Was president obama and pressed those president obama and President Trump have suggested Delta Regional Authority commissions duplicate many other programs. Earmarks for the to permit of the fence department of halfse account for about of the federal pig book. The biggest is the 2. 1 billion added for 22 additional joint Strike Fighter aircraft that the pentagon did not request, six more than in fiscal year 2019. It is wellknown that this aircraft is well over budget, almost twice the initial expense. 19 years in development, nine years behind schedule, and the lifetime operations and Maintenance Cost will be 1. 2 trillion, making it the most expensive weapons system in history. Major20 pig book includes related earmarks. 65 million to recover pacific manage 25. 8 million to wild horses, 24 million to 11. 4 million to purchase fish screens, along with 663,000 to eliminate the brown tree snake in guam. Perhaps the most flagrant forark is the 16. 7 million hawaii. The senator has added this for three years and around. Is a record amount and essentially the senators entire budget the eastwest entire budget. The eastwest centers counterpart stopped receiving funding in 2001. The taxpayers and legislators need to understand why the 2011 earmark moratorium was needed in the first place. There was a decade of scandals, a bridge to nowhere, lobbyists and numbers of Congress Went to jail. Many members of congress has been elected since then and do not remember what that you consequences what the true consequences of earmarks are. The argument of the proponent of earmarks is the more powerful you are, the more likely you are to get your mark in. Therefore, it is a corrupt system. One late senator said earmarks are the gateway drug to washingtons spending addiction. Still hold the power to corrupt congress, wasting taxpayer money, and eroded trust in government. The best way to get rid of these earmarks is to enact a statutory permanent ban, going beyond what the senate did i changing the rules to agree to a permanent ban in 2019. I am pleased to be joined today by distinguished members of congress and senators who share thecagws concern over corruption, cost, and unfairness associated with your marks. We will hear first from senator Marsha Blackburn, followed by representatives of north , texas tennessee who has set the record for the most consistent and consecutive attendance at the big book, so we will miss you when you were gone. We also have a congresswoman of , california, and south carolina. We will hear prerecorded statements from senator jed cruz, joni ernst, rand paul. Any questions that anyone may have, we will respond after everybody has spoken. Now i would like to ask senator Marsha Blackburn to speak, and thank you for joining. Sen. Blackburn thank you so much. I am thrilled to join you all today. We are in tennessee, and we are out working. But first, to citizens against government waste, thank you so much for your consistency and bringing these issues forward. You just mentioned the 2011 earmark ban. That is something that was vitally important to us in the house, and if it had been held to, we would not now be at 26 trillion in debt. Mounting every year. One of the ways to keep a handle on it is to eliminate earmarks and to get rid of these things that have no federal nexus. That is something we should continue to hold steadfast to, and again, i want to say thank you so much to citizens against government waste for continuing on abouthe Pressure Holding spending accountable, finding ways to rein in not only the legislative branch, but the , when ittic branch comes to spending government money, putting programs in place that we do not need, that will have outlived their usefulness by the time our children and grandchildren are earning paychecks and have to pay for these programs. So thank you for the continued good work. Have i have to un to unmute myself. We will now go to congressman ted budd. Rep. Budd it is good to be back with you. Your recesses are in value your resources are invaluable to everyone in washington. As a Small Business person myself, i really appreciate you rooting out waste and making sure our government operates more efficiently and more responsibly. I also want to commend you on your scheduling on tax day. That really couldnt be more ironic. Tax day is the day that a lot of taxpayers dread the most. The pig book is the book that washington, the washington swamp really dreads the most. This years pig book will certainly get taxpayers upset, and that is for very good reason. It has exposed to hundred 74 earmarks that cost nearly 16 billion. Those topline numbers are really bad. You mentioned these in your introduction, but there are millions of dollars in there for fish screens. As a North Carolina in an the 13th district, i have no idea what a fish screen is, but theres hundreds of thousands of dollars for brown tree snake eradication, and we really dont know what that is here in North Carolina 13th district. But they worst part of this is, outside of the tremendous waste is a socalled moratorium on pork euro spending porkbarrel spending, which is really not in effect, but it should be. That is why, along with my norman, iswith ralph the earmark illumination act. Good work there. , greatlways great work to work with you, especially when it comes to government waste. But the only way to end this port euro spending this porkbarrel spending in washington is to pass legislation banning earmarks once and for all. Each and every taxpayer dollar is sacred, and we should start treating it that way. Thanks again for all that you do. Thanks to you, and thanks to citizens against government waste. Thank you. We will now hear from congressman tim burchett of tennessee. Rep. Burchett thank you. I remember last year it was a little colder, and i got to meet ted budd, so it evened out pretty good. It turned out we have been buddies ever since. You are muted. Hate doing that to you. What you say, ted . Budd i can comment from the peanut gallery here. Rep. Burchett you need a 13yearold dollar to show you what youre doing wrong and embarrass you with your computer skills. Thank you for inviting me here as a freshman, and i am honored to be joining you in my second year. You have done great work exposing the excessive spending in this years pig book. Somebody asked me if i like pork the other day. I said the closest thing i come to pork is a place called pops doughnuts near my house, and they have this maple donut they sparkle bacon on. Thats about the closest i get to it. You will know the federal deficit is exploding. You said it earlier, a lot more eloquent than i did, i think it is 864 billion. It is an acceptable. Weve got to get spending under control. The house will vote on their appropriations bill this morning or soon. I would hope that they would bring more transparency and accountability to this round of spending. Year,ou said that last about the salmon, i walked out after voting against that bill. I said if they wanted to study salmon, they could have gone to red lobster and done it for 12. 95. Of course, that infuriate a lot of people, but i think they understand what is going on. The economy is slow due to coronavirus, and it is unappropriate for us to keep spinning out of control. The next covid relief packages got to be fiscally responsive, if there is anything at all. I think we have just got to get america back to work. Just paying people not to work is killing our economy. I think it is a little bit by design, in my opinion, which is not worth a whole lot. I am disgusted with what is going on. But i want to thank you for the great work you have done with the pig book. It is always good to see my good buddies. , mr. A blackburn mcclintock. Anyway, you again. I will yields the remainder of my time to the next person, as you all, you be our grants what to say here in a few bureaucrats like to see here in you bureaucrats here in d. C. What to say thank you. Now we have come from bill florence, the most consistent attending our events for many years. Maybe he can come back and show up after retirement. That would be great. Good morning, everybody. I appreciate everybody for dissipating on this annual event that always tends to be a lookup call for americas taxpayers. It is a pleasure to be here with citizens against government waste to help unveil the 2020 edition he 20th the 28th edition. Cagw is to be commended for their continuous work highlighting the most ridiculous, the most absurd, the most wasteful examples of government access. The pig book government excess. The pig book serves an important function to uncover when Government Spending is going somewhere it should not. Programs cost taxpayers just under 16 billion. This is 133 increase from fiscal year 2017, which shows that the continued growth of spending over the last few years has not really been reined in. Prior to my election, the congress in 2010 had a big problem with porkbarrel spending on both sides of the aisle. Taxpayers were angry to learn that their hardearned taxpayer dollars were beings wondered being squandered on projects like the infamous bridge to nowhere in alaska and the Rain Forest Museum in iowa. They consistently argued against the practice of earmarking, and i am that we will continue to be successful in this regard. Unfortunately, there are recent rumblings to reinstate earmarks, but to do so would be against what americans want to see in washington. Americans have made it clear they want to drain the swamp, and president and previous Republican Congress is worked to do just that. We cant fill a backup now. We cant fill it back up now. Article of the constitution says that no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but by appropriations made by law. We must restore the power of the purse by having , notess in control bureaucrats and not by your marks. It is time to stop outofcontrol bureaucrats for making decisions that should be made by congress, but congress should only fund those projects specifically set forth in the enumerated powers of the federal government. I want to conclude this by thinking again the cagw for providing this course possibility. Tom and his team do a great job, i do look forward to hearing from debbie lesko now. Tom thank you, congress meant flores. Now for the first time at one of our events, we have representative debbie lesko of arizona. Rep. Lesko i want to thank the citizens against government waste for everything you do. I hail from the great state of arizona, where we have quite the history of conservative leaders that have fought against overspending and government waste. I am very proud to be from that state and from the people that have fought for years against it. Againstd out fighting government waste and high taxes, those types of things years ago. I was just a mom and got involved. I remember putting out homemade street signs years ago, and competed with these big signs paid for by special interests that benefited from the tax increases in my local community. Rained, itwhen it doesnt rain too much in arizona, but my homemade signs got all wet, so i learned many years ago that it is very difficult for a taxpayer, an individual citizen to fight against special interests that directly benefit from more Government Spending. So that is why your organization is so very vital because you are there helping us, pointing out ways that the government wastes money and that we are spending too much money, and Holding Elected Officials accountable. After i was this Community Type person that was railing against high taxes and wasteful spending , then i got the opportunity to serve in the Arizona Legislature , six years in the house and three years in the senate. I remember going to one of the citizens against government waste conferences that you had for state legislators, and it was very beneficial. So i just want to applaud your organization for the hard work that you are doing, and for you, tom, for the hard work you are doing. It is very vital, and i also am appreciative of the taxpayer superhero award. That is a fantastic name. So thank you again, and god bless everyone that is on this call. Tom thank you very much. Really appreciate your remarks and your service, and coming from what you did and showing people how it should be done. If you really are concerned, get involved. Pretty simple. Next we have cumbersome and tom clint talk tom mcclintock, whos been with us for many years, and we appreciate your work, congressman. Rep. Mcclintock thank you. I appreciate your work, and i want to thank you and cagw and everyone who supports cagw for continuing to beat the drums against government waste at this particularly critical time in the history of our country. After eight years of serving on the budget committee, i left because it became clear that Neither Party had any interest in controlling ways for spending. At least the republicans would give it lip service from time to time, while democrats only complained that we were in spending money fast enough. But im afraid that those days look point when the waste in this years spending is finally tallied. Im afraid that to do it justice, we will need to issue not just a pig book next year. I think you need to start considering issuing a pig farm library. We need to understand that everyone trillion dollars of 1eral spending every trillion of federal spending means 8,000 paid by an average household in this country, either indirect taxes or tax driven price increases. Since we are now spending far beyond our means, that is why it is borrowed from those same families that will then have to pay through their future tax. Cagws greatest crusade is to stop this practice of earmarks. I want to address for just a moment those who say that your marks are just a harmless exercise of congresss power to appropriate. The fundamental principle of our constitution that dates back to magna carta is the division of powers. One branch makes law, but cannot enforce it. The other enforces law, but cannot make it. One branch declares war, but cannot wage it. The other branch wages war, cannot fight it or declare it. Money,nch appropriates but cannot spend it. The other spends money, but cannot appropriate it. Earmarks strike the very heart of that principal by combining the power to appropriate with the power to spend. It shouldnt surprise us that that is a formula that has consistently produced both waste and corruption. This is when we consider the next round of spending connected to these ill advised law illadvised lockdowns. Government does not finance the economy. The economy finances the government. When we shut down the economy, we shut down the revenue the government spends. At such a time as this, we ought to be extra careful how that money is being spent. If we dont heed and practice that truth very soon, historys harsh lesson will be visited on our country, and it is this. Nations that bankrupt themselves arent around very long because before you can provide or promote the general where fair general welfare, you have to be able to pay for it, and the ability for our country to do that is about to be severely tested. So thank you, tom. Thank you, cagw, for sounding the alarm. Now we are left with the simple question, will the American People finally demand their government stop mortgaging their future and wondering their earnings . Thanks again. Tom thank you very much, congressman. Always appreciate your remarks. Last and certainly not least, another taxpayer superhero and the author of the earmark illumination act, congressman ralph norman earmark illumination act, Congress Elimination act, congressman ralph norman. Rep. Norman with the pig book, what you are doing is shedding light on something that is really hard to find. That is what i like so much about it. Piglets,t monthly which is spending that hopefully catches on with the American People, particularly in the fifth district. Developer. Estate when people ask me to build a bill, and it comes down to are you going to do it or are you not going to do it, i think we are at that point now. Said, i havetock been on the budget committee, and trying to get any cuts is impossible from both sides. Now i think we are at a point of no return, where we are going to have to do something. Is i guess the answer electing people that are willing to do what members on this conference are willing to do, which is to vote to reign in spending. That is the bottom line. Secondly, weve got to publicize where the tax dollars are going. Tax dollars are sacred money. How we are going to pay this back, you talk about 860 billion for one month, is something that we are going to have to get control on. We are going to have to handle it. But i appreciate what youre doing. I think we are at a critical point. As one man told me, why are you spending, dropping money out of helicopters and hoping it lands in the right place . It is time to say no and it is time to stand up. Certainly, a group of us, willing to do that. With you in to work the future. Tom thank you to everyone who has been with us this morning. Feel free to stay on to be able to see our videos. I want to thank sean kennedy, our research director, who has once again taken the balance of work