Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd and Democratic leaders have decided to honor an earmark request by former Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., to establish a program promoting environmental, health and agriculture education at the University of Vermont. The $121.7 billion Senate supplemental spending bill includes $2 million for the program. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., pushed the funds as a tribute to Jeffords, who retired last year, Senate aides said. Jeffords secured the project last year as part of the FY07 Labor-HHS spending bill.
That and thousands of other earmarks were killed when Byrd and House Appropriations Chairman Obey scrapped the unfinished domestic spending bills from last year and announced an earmark moratorium until the FY08 appropriations process begins. The $2 million is thus far the first earmark to be resurrected from last year's bills, and is offset through a rescission of student aid administration funds.
