Leaders rack up $2 billion in earmarks
Despite vows from many lawmakers to stop stuffing bills with earmarks, those special spending measures for projects back home that add up to billions of dollars, it’s still business as usual on Capitol Hill.
As Congress weighs a gigantic $1.2 trillion spending bill for 2011 to tide the country over for a year, littered throughout are millions here for highways, millions there for shore-line erosion. And much more.