earmarks

This week it’s all about earmarks!  Here is a quick run-through of some of the most interesting blogs published this week on the subject.  Feel free to check out Wikipedia for a concise description of “

Over at Government BYTES!

The New York Times reports today that President Bush will probably pass on a legal tactic that would drastically cut earmarks, but he will probably insist on better justification for the practice.

Let's reverse the usual order and start with the bad news: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he's willing to waive "pay as you go" rules to get a one-year fix for the alternative minimum tax.

The Alaska bridge project that became the national symbol for pork-barrel spending is finally, definitely dead. But while hundreds of millions have been saved, in one sense the damage has been done.

Now this is a story you don't read every day. But maybe the world would be a different place if you did.

This story provides a useful reminder of an important fact of life in the budget world: lots of people in Congress are proud of their earmarks.

Looks like we've got an ethics bill, including provisions on making earmarks more transparent.

While both politicians and watchdog groups are more upfront about earmarks than they used to be, there's still about $7.5 billion in Senate earmarks that nobody wants to fess up to, according to this story in The Hill.

There are several budget-related stories or reports out that are worth a read -- not only because they're important but also because they're quite readable: