Letter to the Editor: Earmarks for State Should Remain in Place

Summary

---

Recent articles have covered the issue of whether Eastern Connecticut will receive $31 million in earmarks in fiscal 2007. These are projects that I have worked on over the past year, most of which passed the House of Representatives. The principal item of concern for me is a joint press release from the incoming Democratic chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees that states "we have decided to dispose of the Republican budget leftovers by passing a yearlong joint resolution ... and there will be no congressional earmarks in the joint funding resolution that we will pass." Several points bear mentioning.

First, there is nothing unusual about placing unfinished bills into one large omnibus bill that will include earmarks, which are important investments in Eastern Connecticut and elsewhere. This process requires some work in January and February, but that will not impede work on the next budget.

See the full content of this document

Extract

---

Letter to the Editor: Earmarks for State Should Remain in Place

Second, to the extent the papers have publis...

See the full content of this document

---