Obama Challenges Clinton on Earmarks
by Sarah Wheaton
Link to ArticleSenator Barack Obama announced today that, contrary to a position he has taken in the past, he is releasing all of his earmark requests, and he is challenging Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to do the same.Both Democrats have said they support a one-year moratorium on the spending allocations, a temporary ban that has been championed by Senator John McCain, a long-time foe of earmarks and the presumptive Republican nominee. The amendment is up for debate in the Senate, though it is seen as unlikely to pass. “Bringing real change requires changing the way we do business in Washington,” said Robert Gibbs, the Obama campaign’s communications director, in a release. “If Senator Clinton will not agree to join Senator Obama in releasing her earmark requests, voters should ask why she doesn’t believe they have the right to know she wants to spend their tax dollars.” Mr. Obama’s requests for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 are here, and his 2008 requests are here.The Clinton campaign did not respond to requests for comment and did not release its earmarks requests. But The Times’s Robert Pear spoke to her office earlier this week: Philippe Reines, a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, said, “A one-year moratorium will allow a hard look at how more sunlight and transparency can be brought to this process.” At the same time, he said, Mrs. Clinton was “very proud” of the earmarks she had obtained for New York. These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. If you have accounts on these bookmarking sites, you can post this story to share it with others.
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