Obama Releases His Earmark Requests; Calls on Clinton to do the Same

Chicago, IL – Senator Barack Obama’s campaign today released his earmark requests for 2005 and 2006 and called on Senator Hillary Clinton to do the same. Last year, Obama’s Senate office released his 2007 earmark requests.
The ’05 and ’06 requests can be seen by clicking HERE. The ’07 requests are available on the official Senate website. To date, Senator Clinton has refused repeated requests to disclose her earmark requests.

“Bringing real change requires changing the way we do business in Washington,” said Obama for America Communications Director Robert Gibbs. “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.”

Obama believes that there has been too little transparency in Washington, and he has been a leader in reforming the earmark process so that every American can know how the government spends their tax dollars. Barack Obama teamed up with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to pass a law that lifted the veil of secrecy in Washington by creating a Google-like search engine that allows ordinary Americans to track federal grants, contracts, earmarks and loans online. The database – known as “Google for Government” – was launched by the Office of Management and Budget in early December and is available at www.USAspending.gov. As president, Obama will give voters the tools they need to track spending so we can stop letting the special interests set the agenda in Washington.