Earlier this month, I wrote about Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives failing to meet one of the new requirements regarding disclosure of earmarks they approved when they took office in January.
They approved a rule requiring that requests by lawmakers for project funding – an important source of cash for many communities but also a pork barrel for some lawmakers – be included in spending bills in time to be debated on their merits.
Earlier this month, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. and chair of the powerful appropriations committee, announced that the earmarks won’t be added to the spending bills until the fall, when it’s too late to thoroughly debate them. He said that was because committee members and staffers haven’t had time to fully review the 36,000 requests that have come in.
In the spirit of openness, Rep. Tom Udall, the only Democrat in the House from
In addition, he has on the site an explanation of the new rules that further explains what they require, which you can read by clicking here.
Good for Udall. Let the public scrutiny begin. Let’s see if others follow the example he and a few others have set.