Sheldon Whitehouse actually said...
I wanted to make an additional point, and I think I have the sympathy of the Chairman and the Ranking Member in this, which is that when we disarmed ourselves of being able to do what were then called earmarks, i.e., have any specific congressional control over anything, we gave up enormous amounts of our legislative power.
Context
Discusses the loss of legislative power due to the elimination of earmarks.
02/09/2016