Report: Young's Secret Earmark Edit Not Proper Procedure

[L. Coyote]

Report: Young's Secret Earmark Edit Not Proper Procedure
By Laura McGann - Oct 16, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004462.php

Maybe we'll get to the bottom of this after all? Rep. Don Young's (R-AK) post-vote Coconut Road earmark edit piqued the interest of someone in Congress.

The Hill reports (http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/crs-memo-feeds-into-rep.-youngs-transportation-earmark-controversy-2007-10-16.html) that an anonymous member requested that the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/whatscrs.html) prepare a memo on the process for changing language in a bill after it's been passed by the House and Senate.

In the 2005 highway bill, when Young chaired the transportation committee, a $10 million earmark allocated for an interstate widening project was mysteriously rewritten for a more specific project, after both chambers approved the bill. Young's was the only earmark out of more than 6,000 to undergo such a change. ....

..........

The non-partisan watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has already filed a request for an investigation (http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/docs/taxpayers-coconut/) with the House ethics committee and Public Citizen told The Hill it may file a lawsuit (http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004353.php) if the ethics committee doesn't act.

[L. Coyote]

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