Politics

Fewer Earmarks

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

In addition to the progress that’s been made in recent years on making information about earmarks in appropriations bills more transparent, USA Today reports that there have been fewer of them in the bills recently as well.

The 2010 federal spending bills disclose $10.2 billion for pet projects inserted by members of Congress, a drop of nearly a third since 2008, an analysis of the bills shows.

The 9,297 “earmarks” reported in spending legislation for 2010 were down from 11,282 reported for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, according to data compiled by the non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense. The 2009 earmarks were worth $14.3 billion.

Full post as published by Open Congress on January 06, 2010 (boomark / email).