To citizens across the country, progress toward “draining the swamp” has been a hapless zigzag. Even after securing much-needed comprehensive tax reform at the end of last year, the administration and Congress put taxpayers on notice by restoring trillion dollar deficits with its recent spending bill. When asked to explain historic spending increases, elected officials too often tout benefits to “national security.” The Pentagon, America’s leaders argue, needs $700 billion-plus budgets to safeguard the country against threats posed by emerging powers such as Russia, China, and North Korea.

Even if the Department of Defense needs these astronomical sums to protect America in peacetime, the addition of tens of billions of dollars in earmarks is indefensible. In the recent omnibus bill signed into law by the president on March 23, the Taxpayers Protection Alliance found a whopping 642 earmarks, totaling $29.8 billion. These funds, which are devoted to a variety of wasteful and poorly targeted programs, show that lawmakers are unwilling to stand with taxpayers. Rather than all this sausage-making in smoke-filled rooms, taxpayers deserve a transparent process free of earmarking and duplicative programs.