Letter to Congress asking for cosponsors on the Earmark Transparency Act
Available as PDF or TXT: Senate version or House version
June 16, 2010
Dear [Senator/Representative],
The undersigned
organizations urge you to cosponsor H.R. 5258, the Earmark Transparency
Act introduced by [Senators Coburn, Feingold, Gillibrand and McCain/Representatives Cassidy, Speier, Reichert and Adam Smith]. This landmark piece of legislation would require Congress
to create an online, searchable database for all earmark requests. By
centralizing all earmark requests in a single database, the bill vastly
improves the way in which information about earmarks is disclosed.
Currently,
there are four major types of earmark disclosures (requests, committee
reports, certification letters, conference reports) scattered over more
than 550 websites. By directing the Secretary of the Senate and the
Clerk of the House of Representatives to post detailed earmark information
in a single database on their respective websites, the Earmark Transparency
Act would go far to round up diffuse information to create a meaningful
public resource.
The Earmark
Transparency Act improves upon measures taken last year by the leadership
in the House that required lawmakers requesting earmarks to post their
requests on their official websites. Because these requests were not
disclosed in a standard method or location, they were difficult to track.
Under this
legislation, the public will be able to search, sort, aggregate, and
download all earmark data on the website and to determine through a
single search the total number and dollar value of earmarks requested
and secured by an individual Member of Congress. The public would also
be able to learn whether a project receives earmarks year after year,
and whether a project is supported solely by congressionally directed
spending or whether it receives other sources of funding, such as state
tax dollars or private grants. Additionally, the database will allow
the public to identify whether earmark recipients are for-profit, non-profit
or governmental bodies. The length of each project and the justification
for the projects will also be included.
The Earmark
Transparency Act will provide an increased level of accountability and
public access to the earmark process, and we urge you to cosponsor this
legislation.
The Sunlight
Foundation
Open the Government.org
Citizens for
Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Public Citizen
Center for
Democracy and Technology
OMB Watch
Council for
Citizens Against Government Waste
US PIRG
Center for
Responsive Politics
Project on
Government Oversight
National Taxpayers
Union
Americans for
Tax Reform
Center for
Fiscal Accountability
Freedom of
Information Foundation of Texas
Special Libraries
Association
Government
Accountability Project
Essential Information
Liberty Coalition
Calaware
iSolon.org
Rutherford
Institute
American Association
of Law Libraries
Society of
Professional Journalists
Society of
American Archivists
Mark Tapscott,
Editorial Page Editor, The Washington Examiner
National Freedom
of Information Coalition
Alliance for
Patient Safety.org
U.S. Bill of
Rights Foundation
