Congress Hides Billions in Pentagon Pork

Congress Hides Billions in Pentagon Pork
October 14, 2008
Seattle Times|by David Heath and Christine Willmsen

No matter who wins, the next president promises to take back Washington from powerful interests and lobbyists.

It is the same stirring promise Congress made last year when -- rocked by scandal and under new leadership -- lawmakers passed what they trumpeted as some of the most significant ethics reforms in years.

Key among those reforms: rules requiring lawmakers, for the first time, to disclose their earmarks -- federal dollars they were quietly doling out as favors.

But time after time, Congress exploited loopholes or violated those rules, a Seattle Times investigation has found. An in-depth examination of the 2008 defense bill found $8.5 billion in earmarks. Of those, 40 percent -- $3.5 billion -- were hidden.

And Congress broke its pledge -- and President Bush's challenge -- to cut earmarks in half. Lawmakers cut the dollar amount of defense earmarks by about a fourth and the number by 19 percent.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/congress-hides-billions-in-pentagon-pork.html?col=1186032325324