An issue of much importance, both to our country and to me personally, came before the U.S. House of Representatives this week.

Since the campaign days of 2006, we have been hearing from Democrats in Washington how, if given the majority, they would implement “earmark reform” and overhaul the process by which taxpayer dollars are spent by Congress. The process has been and remains a total mess. Legislators drop pet projects, many with dubious merit, into spending bills in the dead of night. Taxpayer dollars are used as a means to wheel and deal votes on this bill or that, and the price tag reaches into the tens of billions of dollars. And in the end, most legislators have no idea the extent of what they’re voting on when the time comes.

Now, it’s bad enough that practically NONE of the Democrats who said they would release their earmark requests actually did so last year. But on Thursday, the Democrat leadership abandoned any remaining notion of fiscal responsibility and blocked an attempt by Republicans to finally clean up the process. Republican members attempted to bring to the floor two measures to solve the problem: (1) forming a Joint Select Committee on Earmark Reform to fix to the rampant spending abuses in Congress, and (2) a moratorium on ALL earmarks until a solution was adopted by Congress. Democrats voted to BLOCKED considering these common-sense measures; thereby officially abandoning their campaign promises.

I’m running for Congress because, like you, I know taxpayer dollars are YOUR MONEY. In the State Senate, I’ve voted against wasteful spending and higher taxes time and again. I’ve worked, as ranking member of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, to keep the spending cap that 81% of Connecticut voters approved screwed on tight to the budget. And I’ll bring that same fiscally conservative approach to Washington.

It’s time that Congress get serious about fiscal responsibility and stop treating it as an election year slogan. I don’t believe it’s a hard concept to understand; Washington must treat the federal budget like you treat your household budget and stop throwing money away for political purposes. You can count on me to do just that and stand up for Connecticut taxpayers.

See you on the trail!