Changes

A House ethics panel is led by a lawmaker who holds the record for taking the most free travel, while another panel member was implicated in the recent flap over the firing of U.S. attorneys.  The earmark process by which so-called "pork barrel" projects are doled out to members by June of 2007 saw no major changes.  In fact, rules approved the first day in power in January, the ''Associated Press'' reported, where being ignored. Rep. [[David Obey]] of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has instructed members to withhold "earmark requests" until September, when it is to late for critics to effectively call public attention to wasteful spending.  Citizens groups are outraged.. According to the ''Associated Press'', What Obey did ran counter to new rules Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open. Those rules made it clear that projects earmarked for federal dollars and their sponsors were to be made available to public scrutiny when appropriations bills are debated.  The rules also require lawmakers requesting such projects to provide a written explanation describing their requests and a letter certifying that they or their spouse would not make any financial gain from them.  The greater transparency was supposed to lead to more self-discipline on the part of lawmakers. <ref> [http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jun03/0,4670,CongressPetProjects,00.html House Keeps Pet Projects From Scrutiny] Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, June 03, 2007.</ref>  Two weeks later, a group called Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) reported that after a wave of protest from across the [[political spectrum]], Democrats backed down from plans to keep taxpayers in the dark about tens of billions of dollars in congressionally earmarked spending. CAGW President Tom Schatz said   

A House ethics panel is led by a lawmaker who holds the record for taking the most free travel, while another panel member was implicated in the recent flap over the firing of U.S. attorneys.  The earmark process by which so-called "pork barrel" projects are doled out to members by June of 2007 saw no major changes.  In fact, rules approved the first day in power in January, the ''Associated Press'' reported, where being ignored. Rep. [[David Obey]] of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has instructed members to withhold "earmark requests" until September, when it is to late for critics to effectively call public attention to wasteful spending.  Citizens groups are outraged.. According to the ''Associated Press'', What Obey did ran counter to new rules Democrats promised would make such spending decisions more open. Those rules made it clear that projects earmarked for federal dollars and their sponsors were to be made available to public scrutiny when appropriations bills are debated.  The rules also require lawmakers requesting such projects to provide a written explanation describing their requests and a letter certifying that they or their spouse would not make any financial gain from them.  The greater transparency was supposed to lead to more self-discipline on the part of lawmakers. <ref> [http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Jun03/0,4670,CongressPetProjects,00.html House Keeps Pet Projects From Scrutiny] Andrew Taylor, Associated Press, June 03, 2007.</ref>  Two weeks later, a group called Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) reported that after a wave of protest from across the [[political spectrum]], Democrats backed down from plans to keep taxpayers in the dark about tens of billions of dollars in congressionally earmarked spending. CAGW President Tom Schatz said   

“Chairman Obey wanted to stay behind closed doors and play ‘God’ with earmarks, but the taxpayers won this battle for transparency and accountability.” <ref>[http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10818 Obey Lost - Taxpayers Won!],Citizens Against Waste in Government Press Release June 15, 2007.</ref>

“Chairman Obey wanted to stay behind closed doors and play ‘God’ with earmarks, but the taxpayers won this battle for transparency and accountability.” <ref>[http://www.cagw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10818 Obey Lost - Taxpayers Won!], Citizens Against Waste in Government Press Release June 15, 2007.</ref>

==See also==

==See also==