Appropriators impose new earmark requirements

[babylonsister]

Appropriators impose new earmark requirements
By Susan Crabtree
Posted: 01/06/09 03:32 PM


The top two appropriators in the House and Senate are imposing new transparency requirements for members who request earmarks in spending bills, the latest response to the controversial practice.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and incoming Senate Appropriations panel Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) on Tuesday announced new steps to be implemented in this year’s appropriations process. They will require members to post their request online at the time it is made, explaining the purpose of the earmark and why it is a valuable use of taxpayer funds.

The two spending panels will offer more time for earmarks to be scrutinized by making earmark disclosure tables publicly available on the same day as House or Senate subcommittee reports, rather than full committee reports or 24 hours before full committee consideration of appropriations legislation that has not been marked up by a Senate subcommittee.

In addition, the Appropriations chairmen pledged to further reduce earmarks to 50 percent of the 2006 levels and to be held below 1 percent of discretionary spending in subsequent years. The committee claims to have reduced 2008 earmarks to 43 percent below the 2006 level.

“Today we build on the unprecedented reforms made to earmarks since Democrats took control of the Congress in 2007,” Obey and Inouye said in a statement. “These reforms mean that earmarks will be funded at a level half as high as they were in 2006, face greater public scrutiny, and members of Congress will have more time and access to more information before they vote on bills and as they prepare amendments.”

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/appropriators-impose-new-earmark-requirements-2009-01-06.html

[DCKit]

1. How 'bout NO earmarks?

If they attempted parity in the distribution of federal money, WV, AK and the other states who receive far more than they pay in taxes would suffer a collective stroke.