Fox ignores Obama's longstanding support for earmark reform

Carlson: “The big onus will fall on” Obama regarding earmark reform; “will he veto it, or will he sign it?” Despite co-host Brian Kilmeade noting that Obama is “on board” with McConnell's newfound support for earmark reform, Carlson stated during the November 16 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends: “The big onus will fall on the president, because let's say that this bill comes to his desk to ban earmarks. Will he veto it, or will he sign it? That will be the interesting test.”

Fox & Friends suggests Obama's support for earmark reform came after McConnell's newfound support of it. While reporting on McConnell's reversal on supporting earmark reform, Fox & Friends repeatedly ignored Obama's longstanding support for earmark reform, suggesting his support for such measures came in response to McConnell's statements. For instance, Kilmeade stated that McConnell's new support for earmark reform “puts all the pressure on the Democrats, and only one has come forward and said I agree with it -- outside the president, who backed this ban -- it's Senator Claire McCaskill.” The onscreen text during the segment read:

In fact, Obama has called for earmark reform for years

Obama during 2008 campaign: “There's no doubt that the” earmark “system needs reform.” During the third presidential debate on October 15, 2008, Obama stated: “Earmarks account for 0.5 percent of the total federal budget. There's no doubt that the system needs reform and there are a lot of screwy things that we end up spending money on, and they need to be eliminated. But it's not going to solve the problem” of reducing the deficit.

Obama in 2008: “Absolutely, we need earmark reform.” During the September 26, 2008, presidential debate, Obama said: "[A]bsolutely, 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. But the fact is that eliminating earmarks alone is not a recipe for how we're going to get the middle class back on track."

In March 2009, Obama outlined an earmark reform proposal and called on Congress to act. In March 2009, Obama called for ending earmark abuses. He stated:

[O]n occasion, earmarks have been used as a vehicle for waste, and fraud, and abuse. Projects have been inserted at the 11th hour, without review, and sometimes without merit, in order to satisfy the political or personal agendas of a given legislator, rather than the public interest. There are times where earmarks may be good on their own, but in the context of a tight budget might not be our highest priority. So these practices hit their peak in the middle of this decade, when the number of earmarks had ballooned to more than 16,000, and played a part in a series of corruption cases.

[...]

In my discussions with Congress, we have talked about the need for further reforms to ensure that the budget process inspires trust and confidence instead of cynicism. So I believe as we move forward, we can come together around principles that prevent the abuse of earmarks.

These principles begin with a simple concept: Earmarks must have a legitimate and worthy public purpose. Earmarks that members do seek must be aired on those members' websites in advance, so the public and the press can examine them and judge their merits for themselves. Each earmark must be open to scrutiny at public hearings, where members will have to justify their expense to the taxpayer.

Next, any earmark for a for-profit private company should be subject to the same competitive bidding requirements as other federal contracts. The awarding of earmarks to private companies is the single most corrupting element of this practice, as witnessed by some of the indictments and convictions that we've already seen. Private companies differ from the public entities that Americans rely on every day -- schools, and police stations, and fire departments.

[...]

Now I'm calling on Congress to enact these reforms as the appropriation process moves forward this year. Neither I nor the American people will accept anything less.

Obama on November 13: We need “to go further” on earmark reform. Obama dedicated his November 13 weekly address to earmark reform, saying:

Given the deficits that have mounted up over the past decade, we can't afford to make these investments unless we're also willing to cut what we don't need. That's why I've submitted to Congress a plan for a three-year budget freeze, and I'm prepared to offer additional savings. But as we work to reform our budget, Congress should also put some skin in the game. I agree with those Republican and Democratic members of Congress who've recently said that in these challenging days, we can't afford what are called earmarks. These are items inserted into spending bills by members of Congress without adequate review.

Now, some of these earmarks support worthy projects in our local communities. But many others do not. We can't afford Bridges to Nowhere like the one that was planned a few years back in Alaska. Earmarks like these represent a relatively small part of overall federal spending. But when it comes to signaling our commitment to fiscal responsibility, addressing them would have an important impact.

As a Senator, I helped eliminate anonymous earmarks and created new measures of transparency so Americans can better follow how their tax dollars are being spent. As President, time and again, I've called for new limitations on earmarks. We've reduced the cost of earmarks by over $3 billion. And we've put in place higher standards of transparency by putting as much information as possible on earmarks.gov. In fact, this week, we updated the site with more information about where last year's earmarks were actually spent, and made it easier to look up Members of Congress and the earmarks they fought for.

Today, we have a chance to go further. We have a chance to not only shine a light on a bad Washington habit that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, but take a step towards restoring public trust. We have a chance to advance the interests not of Republicans or Democrats, but of the American people; to put our country on the path of fiscal discipline and responsibility that will lead to a brighter economic future for all. And that's a future I hope we can reach across party lines to build together.

Washington Post: Obama “has supported an earmark moratorium.” In a November 16 article, The Washington Post reported that “Obama also has supported an earmark moratorium and has encountered similar resistance from veteran Democratic lawmakers, who like McConnell are former appropriators.”

Obama commends “McConnell's decision to join me and members of both parties who support cracking down on wasteful earmark spending.” In a statement responding to McConnell's earmark reform reversal, Obama stated:

I welcome Senator McConnell's decision to join me and members of both parties who support cracking down on wasteful earmark spending, which we can't afford during these tough economic times. As a Senator, I helped eliminate anonymous earmarks, and as President, I've called for new limitations on earmarks and set new, higher standards of transparency and accountability. But we can't stop with earmarks as they represent only part of the problem. In the days and weeks to come, I look forward to working with Democrats and Republicans to not only end earmark spending, but to find other ways to bring down our deficits for our children.