AP IMPACT: Lobbyists skirt Obama's earmark ban

m.apnews.com...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's ban on earmarks in the $825 billion economic stimulus bill doesn't mean interest groups, lobbyists and lawmakers won't be able to funnel money to pet projects. They're just working around it - and perhaps inadvertently making the process more secretive. The projects run the gamut: a Metrolink station that needs building in Placentia, Calif.; a stretch of beach in Sandy Hook, N.J., that could really use some more sand; a water park in Miami. There are thousands of projects like those that once would have gotten money upfront but now are left to scramble for dollars at the back end of the process as "ready to go" jobs eligible for the stimulus plan. The result, as The Associated Press learned in interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers, lobbyists and state and local officials, is a shadowy lobbying effort that may make it difficult to discern how hundreds of billions in federal money will be parceled out. "'No earmarks' isn't a game-ender," said Peter Buffa, former mayor of Costa Mesa, Calif. "It just means there's a different way of going about making sure the funding is there."

It seems that the no earmark promise is going to run into a snag once it makes it passed Congress. This new stimulus bill is running the potential of being the largest earmark bill in history. As they said, "No earmarks isn't a game-ender". Indeed it is only a game changer. I'd like to see some guidelines as to how the money is spent rather than another loose-lipped bill with good intentions and poor execution.

[edit on 27-1-2009 by projectvxn]

[edit on 27-1-2009 by projectvxn]