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Thursday, April 05, 2007
OMB Database Caveats: Definition and Objective
Below are two key caveats regarding the OMB earmark database project we lauded yesterday.
- Limited Scope of Earmarks -- to include only congressionally-sourced earmarks. See OMB's own definition:
Earmarks are funds provided by the Congress for projects or programs where the congressional direction circumvents the merit-based or competitive allocation process, or specifies the location or recipient ... for activities/projects/programs not requested by the Administration. (Emph. added.)
- Focus on Quantity, not Merits of Earmarks -- The administration's fixation on slashing the number of congressionally-sourced earmarks by 50 percent this year is misplaced. The Iraq Study Group began life as a lowly $1 million earmark, after all. The point of increased transparency is to expose wasteful, unneeded projects such as the Bridge to Nowhere, ideally, long before they make it into the OMB database.
Posted by Dana Chasin
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