McCain is lying when he promises to eliminate earmarks... [View All]

John McCain's definition of earmarks comes from the Congressional Research Service...

"Provisions associated with legislation (appropriations or general legislation) that specify certain congressional spending priorities or in revenue bills that apply to a very limited number of individuals or entities. Earmarks may appear in either the legislative text or report language (committee reports accompanying reported bills and joint explanatory statement accompanying a conference report)."

In the United States legislative appropriations process, Congress is required, by the limits specified under Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution, to pass legislation directing all appropriations of money drawn from the U.S. Treasury. This provides Congress with the power to earmark funds it appropriates to be spent on specific named projects.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmark_(politics)#Definition

This is backed up at...

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_israel.html

The Office of Management and Budget analysis found earmarks totaling $16.9 billion, and the Taxpayers for Commonsense analysis found $18.3 billion. Both show that earmarks account for only about 0.6 percent of government spending. More importantly, neither earmark tally would put a dent in the massive spending cuts required to offset McCain’s tax proposals.

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/issues/2008/mccain_earmarks.html

Eliminating earmarks means doing away with 2/3 of foreign assistance, including Israel. At one time military housing was so dilapidated that congress had to step in to give families acceptable living standards. For the most part it was earmarks that paid for it.

It's nothing but a political stunt.