(This is good news.)Tuesday, December 12, 2006
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats taking power in January have settled on a plan to clean up $463 billion worth of GOP budget leftovers, but they're not happy about it -- and neither is the White House.
The plan by the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees would kill thousands of hometown projects, called "earmarks," that lawmakers add to spending bills. Staying within President Bush's thrifty budgets for domestic agencies like the Agriculture and Education departments is part of their proposal.
"There will be no congressional earmarks," Rep. David Obey, D-Wisconsin, and Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, said Monday in a statement announcing their plans, which were endorsed by incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, and soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.
Although critics call hometown projects "pork," their sponsors claim that, as elected representatives, they know more about the needs of people in their states than the president and government bureaucrats. Projects they often want funded range from road, bridge and flood-control construction to economic development. Beneficiaries include local governments, hospitals and universities.
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