Are Democrats up to task on earmarks?
Congress has no more important function than controlling the nation’s purse strings. That is, of course, when it chooses to fulfill that duty – which recently has been more than a bit haphazard.
Last year it failed to pass nine of the 11 annual money measures, relying instead on a string of temporary resolutions to fund the government.
There is only one problem with this, folks. These measures had become incubators for much of the corruption that has marred the Washington political scene the last few years.
The resolutions were loaded with so-called “earmarks” – anonymously sponsored – that have cost taxpayers billions and billions of dollars for pet projects like the infamous bridge to nowhere in Alaska. This distortion of the budgetary process has reached such embarrassing levels that the Democrats, who now control Congress, have pledged to reform it.
How bad is it?
