Meaningful Earmark Reform?
From Roll Call ($):
The chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees on Tuesday jointly vowed to slice the level of earmarks while providing unprecedented disclosure of Member requests.
House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Senate Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said that starting with the fiscal 2010 appropriations bills, when Members make their earmark requests, they will be required to post the requests on their Web sites explaining the purpose of the earmark and why it is a valuable use of taxpayer funds.
The committees have long kept earmark requests secret, making it impossible to compare funded requests and those ultimately spurned by the committee. Journalists, Members advocating earmark reforms and outside groups have long sought access to those requests.
If this is meaningful and credible, it looks like the Republicans have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, letting the Democrats trump them on this issue.
