The Senate voted 98-0 Tuesday on a bill that will force lawmakers to shine more light on pet projects, according to The Associated Press. Republicans made a successful push to make the bill even tougher than originally hashed out by Democrats.
Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said the Democratic approach would catch only 5 percent of the 13,000 earmarks that made it into legislation in 2006. Democrats argued that it would be almost impossible to make public disclosures of every project. Earmarks will be disclosed as well as those contained in committee reports not written in the text of the bill.
A new anti-corruption bill that will appear soon before the Senate Judiciary Committee will make it harder for lawmakers to avoid indictment or conviction, according to Raw Story. The retroactive legislation will extend the statute of limitations from five years to eight years. Current law says after five years, if a lawmaker has yet to be indicted, he can escape criminal prosecution.
