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Today's new budget hides nearly 9,000 earmarks
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| Contributor | Servo |
| Last Edited | Servo Dec 19, 2007 09:59am |
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| Category | News |
| News Date | Tuesday, December 18, 2007 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | And you thought it was hard to make sense of your own little checkbook with each month's statement.
The omnibus budget bill passed by the House today funds most of the federal government for this entire fiscal year, which actually began more than two months ago. The bill costs $516 billion, plus more money yet to be added for Iraq. It is more than 3,000 pages long, an unwieldy package that would normally be contained in 11 separate bills. (The Pentagon budget was passed separately.)
Now, the Roll Call newspaper reveals on its subscription-only website that this mammoth spending bill also includes nearly 9,000 earmarks, special provisions originated by individual legislators to benefit someone or something back home and buried inside a larger bill for a legislative ride relatively free of public scrutiny.
Earmarks for $136,000 here, $250,000 there, $1 million over there and a lot more sprinkled throughout. Just listing them took 700 spreadsheets. Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates that the 8,983 special earmarks will cost taxpayers more than $7.4 billion, though additional costs will become apparent in coming months. |
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