The Upcoming War on Pork
From CQ.com ($): bq. Anti-earmark gadfly Jeff Flake, who is still batting .000 in his crusade to strike earmarks from this year's appropriations bills, said he is preparing to launch more than 1,000 amendments aimed at killing special projects in the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill unless appropriators agree to name the sponsors of each earmark. bq. A lobbying overhaul measure awaiting conference would require that the authors of earmarks be identified in spending bills, but that legislation has stalled. bq. "Unfortunately, it may take the prospect of thousands of amendments to prompt the House Appropriations Committee to revisit their decision to keep sponsors' names secret," the Arizona Republican said in making his threat. bq. There are so many earmarks tucked into the fiscal 2007 Labor-HHS legislation - 77 pages of them - that Flake's move could amount to a mini-filibuster that ends up tying up the legislation for days. bq. The bill is the last appropriations measure awaiting House passage. Mini-filibuster? There doesn't seem to be anything "mini" about it.
