Wash Post: Reform to Nowhere?
by Dana Chasin, 9/19/2006
The
transparent inadequacies of the new House rule on earmarks disclosure are enumerated in a powerful Washington Post editorial today.
Noting the insufficency of disclosure, the modesty of the rule's scope and the Senate's to failure to act at all, the editorial concludes:
Sponsors of some of the most egregious earmarks have been eager to have their names attached to the pork-barrel spending. Remember "Don Young's Way"? This $230 million earmark for a bridge was part of a transportation spending bill that the Alaska Republican, who chairs the House transportation committee, bragged was "stuffed like a turkey." Somehow, we doubt that forcing Mr. Young to disclose his sponsorship of Don Young's Way would have done much to persuade him to spend taxpayer dollars any more wisely.
First, no one should be fooled into thinking that the House's minor, loophole-ridden change is anywhere near enough. And no one should tolerate the Senate's failing to live up to even the low standard set by the other body.
