Sunday, August 30, 2009

Inouye, king of earmarks

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, normally not a politician who seeks a lot of attention outside of election years, is proclaiming himself Capitol Hill's king of earmarks.

"It may please you or it may not please you," he told a gathering of business leaders on the Big Island, West Hawaii Today reported. "I'm the No. 1 earmarks guy in the U.S. Congress."

Inouye and his colleagues in the Hawaii congressional delegation have long defended targeted spending provisions as a prerogative of Congress, to which the Constitution gives the power of the purse. They also contend they can better ascertain what their districts need than executive branch officials.

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