Pearce discloses funding requests; senators won’t

I’ve been writing in the last week about New Mexico’s members of Congress being asked to release lists of requests for local project funding they made for possible inclusion in the budget currently being debated in Washington.

I have already written that Democratic Rep. Tom Udall and Republican Rep. Heather Wilson have released their lists.

As promised, Republican Rep. Steve Pearce released his list late Tuesday. You can view it by clicking here.

He actually went beyond what the other representatives did by not only releasing his list of requests but detailing the status of each, which is impressive.

Meanwhile, Senators Jeff Bingaman and Pete Domenici won’t release a list of their requests, spokeswomen for both offices said.

“Sen. Bingaman does not plan to release a list of all his requests,” spokeswoman Jude McCartin said. “He submits all worthy requests from New Mexico communities for federal funding, even though he knows only a very small number will be funded. Under the new Senate transparency rules if taxpayer dollars are going to actually be committed to a project, the name of the requesting senator will be attached to it.”

That means that, as is the case in the House, when a request makes its way into a bill, the name of the senator who requested it is attached.

I’m not happy with the decisions of the offices of both senators. It is encouraging that, in the House and Senate, those requesting local-project funding will be identified in bills, allowing for some level of public disclosure, but Udall, Wilson and Pearce have gone beyond what’s required.

All three should be recognized for that.