Groups Appeal for Netizens’ Help to Bust Earmarkers

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Every year, lawmakers secretly jam thousands of provisions into appropriations bills to spend billions of taxpayer dollars without any oversight.

Now, the Washington, D.C.-based Sunlight Foundation has joined groups from across the political spectrum (Citizens Against Government Waste, Porkbusters.com, Human Events Online, Club for Growth, the Heritage Foundation, and the Examiner Newspapers) to work with the public to achieve an unprecedented feat: learning the sponsor of each and every earmark in a fat appropriations bill.

The bill, currently pending before Congress, contains over 1,800 earmarks, amounting to $503 million. Their site has a handy map to show where all the money will go.

A member of Congress is responsible for each and every one of them. So they’re asking readers to call up their reps and get an answer.

Check it out. And lend a hand.

Update: This post has been updated with some corrections.

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