Obama's Earmark

The earmark may be relatively minor—$7.7 million for Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions, cosponsored by a long list of representatives and senators—but Barack Obama's name stands out for, well, obvious reasons. During his presidential campaign Obama took a no-earmark pledge, but the omnibus spending bill that passed through the House last night had one earmark with his name on it. The omnibus bill is a compilation of odds and ends funding legislation left over from the fiscal year; Obama would have signed on to the earmark as a senator last year. Vice President Biden's name is attached to $94.9 million in omnibus earmarks, and many other Obama-ites also at least one earmark—Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, and Hilda Solis to name a few. Earmark transparency is relatively new; the requirement to list earmark sponsors began in 2007 when Democrats took control of Congress.