CONGRESS' PORK OVERLOAD

Last month, Congress passed a 3,500-page omnibus spending bill after less than 24 hours for review. The bill, which mostly renewed funding for existing programs, contained more than 9000 "earmarks" -- worth at least $7.4 billion -- for legislators' pet projects, including:

[many]

The real problem with earmarks, says Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), is that "they circumvent the normal process," since they typically are placed in bills without discussion. Thus, lawmakers never get to debate them and find out if they're genuinely necessary -- or just more pork.

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