From the NewsMax.com Staff

For the story behind the story...

Democrats Want to Keep Pork

Reprint Information

Book on Katie Couric Makes Waves White House: We're Not Subject to FOIA FBI Seeks 2 Mysterious Men on Ferry Publisher: Conservatives Do Read As Much As Liberals Romney Shrugs Off Mormon History Film

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic candidates have complained loudly about "special interest earmarks” in Congress – pork barrel spending projects inserted into bills, often anonymously.

But now that the Democrats have won control of Congress, it appears doubtful that lawmakers will seriously clamp down on the practice, according to a report in the New York Times.

Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii is set to chair the Senate defense appropriations subcommittee, which presides over the largest single source of discretionary spending and earmarks. He said recently: "I don’t see any monumental changes” regarding earmarks.

"If something is wrong we should clean house, but if they can explain it and justify it, I will look at it.”

Another Democratic Senator, Patty Murray of Washington – who will be chairwoman of the transportation subcommittee – said: "I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next.”

Story Continues Below

Last year, Murray defended the allocation of more than $200 million for the so-called "bridge to nowhere” in Alaska, warning those who might vote against the outlay that her subcommittee would take "a long, serious look at their projects.”

Over the past 12 years, the number of earmarks tripled to 16,000 accounting for $64 billion a year in spending, figures cited by the Times reveal.

Democratic Congressional leaders have vowed to require the sponsors of earmarks to identify themselves. But critics say that may not do much to rein in earmarks. Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said both Democrats and Republicans have shown that "there is no longer any embarrassment” in sponsoring an obvious piece of pork barrel legislation.

"Like their Republican counterparts, many Democratic appropriators consider earmarks a venerable tradition dating to the Constitution, which gives Congress the power of the purse,” the Times reports.

Among the Democrats who will control important committees and subcommittees – with increased power to bring home the bacon: