But the Dems are cutting earmarks in half...
This Boston Globe piece from September points out that the Democrats are generally meeting their pledge to cut earmarks in half:
The $459 billion military budget approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee earlier this month, the largest annual federal spending bill, included 1,006 earmarks, a decrease from the 2,644 contained in last year's bill. If enacted, the earmarks would cost a total of $8.2 billion, down from $10.5 billion last year.An analysis of other spending bills pending before Congress this fall for expenditures in 2008 shows that the effort to reduce earmarks appears to be working. The number of earmarks in the transportation, housing, and agriculture budgets is down from the last budgets approved under the previous Congress, which was led by Republicans.
And this:
After the 2006 elections, Representative David Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin and the House Appropriations Committee chairman, vowed to cut earmarks by half in the House draft of this year's budget bills. That has mostly happened, say budget analysts: There are thousands fewer in the House bills than there were under the Republicans.
I'll leave you with this, which presages the bill introduced on Thursday:
Separately, House Republicans announced Thursday that they would try to seize the upper hand on earmark policy change by seeking a vote on a bill that would expand the disclosure requirements."We've had our own blemishes over the years," said Antonia Ferrier, a spokeswoman for Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri and minority whip.
"We're desperately trying to recoup on this front and move aggressively. We're asking them to finish the job that they've started."
