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Earmarks during the time that i was in congress were this thing that drove up spending in washington, d.c. if you actually look at it, as i said before, as a percentage of gdp, actually the deficit -- some of the debt went down. what happened is there was abuse. when abuse happened, i said, we should stop the earmarking process. but i did say there were good earmarks and bad earmarks. we wouldn't have the v-22 osprey, which is the most essential air platform for our marines in particular, in the war against the radical islamists. we wouldn't have it if it wasn't for earmarks. that would have b...

Massachusetts, 3 or $400 million. >> what happened there was abuse. when the abuse happened i said we should stop the earmarking process. i did say there were good earmarks and bad earmarks. >> i would put a ban on earmarks. i think it opens the door to excessive spending on projects that don't need to be done. you voted for the bridge to nowhere. >> ile whifs fighting to -- while i was fighting to save the olympics you were fighting to save the bridge to nowhere. >> he was questioning the former's senator education reform under president bush. the explanation didn't win over the crowd or keep...

Salt lake olympics in the order of tens of millions of dollars, sought those earmarks and used them, and he did it as the governor of massachusetts, $300 million or $400 million. he said i would be something like foolish if i didn't try to go out and get federal dollars. so the idea that somehow the earmarks during the time that i was in congress were this thing that drove up spending in washington, d.c. if you actually look at it, as i said before, as a percentage of gdp, actually the deficit -- some of the debt went down. what happened is there was abuse. when abuse happened, i said, we shou...

Recalls was to overstate what it was. they were getting deep into the history of legislation and legislative maneuvering and trading folks in the senate. >> i'd like to never hear about those olympics again. >> our friend simon said rick santorum had studied at the bob dole school of debating. >> here he is. santorum trying to defend his record as a former washington senator who championed earmarks. here it comes. be ready for the excitement. >> unfortunately, attacking me for saying i'm this great earmarker when he not only asked for earmarks for the olympics in tens of millions of dollars, s...

About the abuse of the earmarks process. jenna: we mentioned in the introduction to you that it's less than 1 percent of total government spending. will this actually help? will this actually start a new habit to change the way we spend in d.c., or do you think this is mostly symbolic? >> well, you know jenna, only in d.c. is a million dollars a little money. this earmark amounts to about $16 billion, and that is significant in and of itself. but the fact is that we've got to reduce total spending by trillions over the next ten years, not billions. so earmark reform is a good step in the right...