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April 18, 2007

Dems' Earmark Policy Doesn't Satisfy Coburn

By Jim Myers

Tulsa World

WASHINGTON -- Key Democrats announced a new policy on earmarks Tuesday as U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and another vocal conservative continued to press for such changes.

Coburn and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., however, did not buy the Democrats' changes.

Under the policy announced by veteran Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, all earmarked projects will be identified clearly, along with their sponsors, recipient and purpose.

Information on spending bills will be published online.

Senators also will be required to certify that neither they nor their spouses have a financial interest in an earmark, and those statements will be available to the public, as well.

"The changes that we are making in the appropriations process will help to restore confidence in the Congress," Byrd said.

Meeting with reporters, Coburn and DeMint dismissed the Democratic effort.

Instead of a press release detailing the new procedures, they want the Senate to make the changes part of its rules.

They said that was the best way to empower individual senators to challenge the process.

Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who holds the No. 2 post in the Senate, derailed Coburn and DeMint's attempts to advance such a rule change. He suggested that they accept the changes in the works on earmarks.

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