Porkbuster’s Alert from Mark Tapscott

Looks Like Bush Has Caved on Earmarks

When I heard last week from Hill sources that the White House congressional liason staff was pressuring OMB Director Rob Portman to not release all of the earmarks requested by Members of Congress to executive agencies under the FY2005 budget, I called the OMB press office.

When I asked for a copy of the earmark database and copies of all correspondence between OMB and executive branch officials and Members and Hill staff, I was promised a call-back from a senior OMB spokesman. Not surprisingly, that call never came.

Now this morning, word is circulating on the Hill that the Bush administration is going to release only a limited database of earmarks later today or maybe no database at all, but just aggregate or summary data.

Not my area of expertise, but I am passing it along.

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR DIAL: Nor do you need to adjust your glasses – this post has had a certain “Now you see it, now you don’t” quality while I have been grappling with the HTML. Sorry for any confusion.