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January 13, 2007
Earmarks
This is the Congress system (informal, but deadly) of slipping tailored spending provisions – pork barrel projects – into bills. These spending commitments usually slide right by without review and are a great way for Senators and Congressman to show the folks back home they are being taken of.
Last year there were 13,012 earmarks attached to non-related bills – quadruple the number from 1996. The cost of these projects was over $67 billion dollars, more than triple the 1996 totals.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s worth trying to put an end to this.
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Everybody I have talked to agrees that earmarks are bad for the country. Yet there are few politicians who try to get rid of them. One of the few is Jeff Flake, a Republican congressman from Arizona. Local politicians from his area criticize him because he refuses to try to bring pork home. Thank goodness his constituents recognize his integrity and keeps reelecting him. We need more politicians like him.
Posted by: wolverine at January 14, 2007 06:19 PM