Jeff Flake: “it's no secret that earmarks are not fairly distributed. But with the new disclosure rules in place this year, for the…”

“it's no secret that earmarks are not fairly distributed. But with the new disclosure rules in place this year, for the first time it's been documented. In an analysis of House-passed appropriation bills, CQ Weekly and Taxpayers for Common Sense found that a disproportionate share of earmarks went to relatively few Members of Congress. Now, obviously Federal priorities are not concentrated in the districts of appropriators and leadership. Those Members are simply in a better position to steer Federal money home. That's hardly a defensible way of spending taxpayer money. I've often said that we had higher aspirations when we were elected than to grovel for crumbs that fall from the appropriators' table. But given the lopsided share of earmarks that appropriators got this year, here's hoping that enough Members will finally say, why bother, and we can finally end this practice.”