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President Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.
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Current Office: President
First Elected: 11/04/2008
Last Elected: 11/04/2008
Next Election: 2012
Party: Democratic
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BiographicalVoting RecordIssue Positions
(Political Courage Test)Interest Group RatingsPosition PapersSpeeches and Public StatementsVetoesAdditional Biographical InformationCampaign FinancesPolitifact.com's Obameter
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Title: Obama Cosponsors One-Year Moratorium on All Congressional Earmarks
Date: 03/10/2008
Location: Washington, DC
Obama Cosponsors One-Year Moratorium on All Congressional Earmarks
U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today released the following statement on his decision to cosponsor an amendment offered by Senator Jim DeMint to implement a one-year moratorium on all congressional earmarks during the FY 2009 appropriations cycle:
"As a U.S. Senator, I have long fought for greater transparency and accountability in federal spending. One of the legislative accomplishments of which I am most proud is a law I authored to create a searchable database of all federal contracts and grants. I also have championed greater disclosure requirements for earmarks to ensure that the public kan class="special">noan>ws which member of Congress is sponsoring an earmark.
Hoan class="special">wean>ver, even with all of these reforms, I have come to believe that the system is broken. an class="special">Wean> an class="special">canan> an class="special">noan> an class="special">longeran> an class="special">acceptan> a process that doles out earmarks based on a member of Congress' seniority, rather than the merit of the project. an class="special">Wean> an class="special">canan> an class="special">noan> an class="special">longeran> an class="special">acceptan> an earmarks process that has become so complicated to navigate that a municipality or an class="special">noan>n-profit group has to hire high-priced D.C. lobbyists to do it. And an class="special">wean> an class="special">canan> an class="special">noan> an class="special">longeran> an class="special">acceptan> an earmarks process in which many of the projects being funded fail to address the real needs of our country.
The entire earmarks process needs to be re-examined and reformed. For that reason, I will be supporting Senator DeMint's amendment and will an class="special">noan>t be requesting earmarks this year for Illian class="special">noan>is. Over the next year, I hope to work with my colleagues, both Democratic and Republian class="special">canan>, to improve the earmarks process."an class="special">an>an class="special">an>an class="special">an>an class="special">an>an class="special">an>
http://obama.senate.gov/press/080310-obama_supports_1/
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