Mar 4, 2009 10:43 pm US/Central
Reality Check: Lawmakers Bringing Home The Bacon
(WCCO)
Congress is preparing to vote on a $410 billion spending bill from last year that should have been passed when George W. Bush was president. But Democrats waited until President Barack Obama took office.
And now there's a big question about whether it contains billions of dollars in congressional earmarks, commonly called "pork".
Earmarks are an expensive word in Washington, but to members of Congress they are priceless. It's a way for lawmakers to put their projects into spending bills without going through all those pesky hearings.
Click here to visit a government Web site explaining the earmark process. During his campaign, the earmark process is something Obama promised he would end.
"Absolutely, we need earmark reform," said Obama in September. "And when I'm president, I will go line by line to make sure that we are not spending money unwisely."
But HOLD ON:
Obama said he'll sign the bill, even though it contains 8,570 earmarks worth $7.7 billion. He said its last year's budget and that it belongs to President Bush, not to him.
And Minnesota is only getting a fraction of it.
A Washington watchdog group called Taxpayers for Common Sense compiled a list of earmarks in the spending bill. Click here to see the breakdown of whose asking for the most and where the money is going.
Here's what you NEED TO KNOW:
Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, on her own, requested six earmark projects totaling about $4.7 million. And with other senators she requested another $100 million in earmarks.
Former Republican Sen. Norm Coleman still has earmarks in the bill, even though he's out of office. Coleman requested $1 million of his own earmarks in the bill. And with other senators, he's asked for $109 million in projects.
In the House, Democrats Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum are Minnesota's number one and two in the Minnesota delegation receiving about $50 million each in earmarks.
And two Minnesota Republicans, John Kline and Michele Bachmann, refused all earmarks.
IN FACT...
Minnesota's earmarks include $303,000 for wild rice research; $240,000 for the still unfinished and unoccupied Shubert Theatre in Minneapolis; $727,000 for wolf predator management and $475,000 for a pedestrian median in St. Paul.
The BOTTOM LINE:
Minnesota's not at the BOTTOM, or the top, of the pork list. In fact, it's right in the middle, bringing home about $313 million of bacon.
That's Reality Check.
To check the resources on this Reality Check click on the links below:
Explaining Earmarks
Taxpayers for Common Sense: List Of Earmarks
Sunlight Foundation
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