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Friday, June 01, 2007
OMB Sets Standard for Tracking FY08 Earmarks
In a memo to "heads of departments and agencies" entitled "Tracking Earmarks in the 2008 Appropriations Process," OMB Director Rob Portman announced yesterday the requirements and timeline for the 2008 earmark tracking and internet disclosure process:
Agencies should report to OMB the number and dollar value of earmarks in each account within seven days after an appropriations bill is reported by the House or Senate Appropriations committee or passes the House or Senate Floor... For Conference committee reports, which are often considered quickly, agencies should expedite their analysis and provide it as soon as possible, but also within no more than seven days.
It is hard to imagine another instance in which the administration has demonstrated a similar commitment to transparency and accountability regarding government spending. Would that additional disclosures -- earmarks' sponsors' names comes to mind -- were also required. And enough with the fixation on cutting earmarks by 50 percent -- the issue with earmarks is quality, not quantity. The Iraq Study Group came into being via an earmark.
But plaudits to Portman who, wholly unexpectedly, is disrupting business as usual for his former colleagues in Congress and doing the public a significant service.
Posted by Dana Chasin
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