Claire McCaskill Quotes

Earmarks have become a symbol of a Congress that has broken faith with the people. This earmark ban shows the American people we are listening and we are dead serious about ending business as usual in Washington.

In Congress, it's all pork, all the time.

The earmark favor factory needs to be boarded up and demolished, not turned over to new management that may or may not have a better eye for earmarks with 'merit.'

George W. Bush is a big spender…. When Congress sends up a bill with big. fat, crackling pork, he says, “Where’s the barbecue sauce?”

I'm sick and tired - and the American people are sick and tired - of the pork barrel spending.

There's a lot of politics over who gets the next allocation of Congressional funding.

We see people voting for bills that their ideals and principles are opposed to, but because their little funding project is in there, they're voting for it. We might say it's one percent of all spending but the impact of that spending is far greater.

The Pig Book

Those members of Congress who want to bring back pork to their districts should stand up proudly and be counted.

Local groups demand that their representatives and senators bring home the "bacon" or else .... They want economy practiced on the other fellow but not on themselves.

Pork is the most visible malady of Congress from the public point of view.

When I first came to Washington ... my charge was to cut the cost of government, to get government off our backs .... Thirty years later, the local newspaper says, "We want you to be a pork provider and we don't mean the farm kind.

I don't disagree with Senator McCain when he talks about the earmark process.

Be thankful we're not getting all the government we're paying for.

It's all right to agree or disagree on the balanced budget amendment. It's all right to talk about how we're going to appropriate.

The first pork-barrel bill that crosses my desk, I'm going to veto it and make the authors of those pork-barrel items famous all over America.

Every American knows there are government expenses that are absolutely not necessary. I disagree with the very idea that our government is spending $2.4 trillion in the most efficient manner.

If everyone in America can easily see who and what their lawmakers are requesting taxpayer money for, we can keep elected officials honest, end the days of political, special interest favors, and reduce wasteful spending.

I have never been opposed to earmarks.

It's a good thing we don't get all the government we pay for.

My friend Paul Ryan talks about fiscal responsibility, but voted to put two wars on a credit card.

Now, so, if you want to blame someone for wasteful spending, the Republicans are in the majority.

Congress: Bingo with billions.

Since 1980, we've used reconciliation 22 times, and out of those times, Republicans used it 16 times. So, earth to my Republican friends, you can have your option but you cannot change these facts. They're in the Congressional Record.

We need earmark reform, and when I'm President, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely.