WASHINGTON -Today, Congressman Mike Quigley (D-IL) issued the following statement after the Washington Post reported that House leadership is considering a one-year moratorium on for-profit earmarks, a measure Quigley proposed as one of his first acts in Congress last summer:

“One of my very first actions in Congress was to propose legislation to ban earmarks for private entities, so today’s news is both refreshing and necessary. I fully support leadership’s conversations to make for-profit earmarks a policy of the past, because the most precious commodity we have in the House of Representatives—and all of Washington—is the people’s trust.  The best way to make sure we don’t lose it is to curb pay-to-play politics and crack down on wasted and misused federal funds.

Not only do taxpayers deserve to know how their dollars are being spent, but they also deserve to have them spent judiciously, transparently, and without political influence. We need to fund the fundamentals, not play politics with pork. While I’d like to see the ban become permanent, this is a critical step in the right direction.”

In July, Congressman Quigley introduced H. Res. 614, to prohibit appropriation requests for for-profit entities.  Under the proposal, funding requests for public and not-for-profit entities would still be admissible. These vital projects include improving schools, public safety, hospitals, natural resources, mass transit, or other similar local projects.

Last spring, immediately after taking office, Quigley published all of his non-profit and public works appropriation requests on his Web site.

Today, the Washington Post reported: “According to senior aides familiar with the internal discussions, Pelosi's leadership team has considered calling for a one-year moratorium on all earmarks, discussions that were first reported this week by the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call.  But the more likely decision, aides said, would be to ask rank-and-file lawmakers to accept a one-year ban on earmarks distributed to for-profit companies, the type of no-bid contracts that have been at the center of most corruption allegations. While the earmark ban would be temporary, key leaders hope it would become permanent in the years ahead.”