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Restoring the power of the purse: Earmar...

Restoring the power of the purse: Earmarks and re-empowering legislators to deliver local benefits

However well-intentioned, the earmark moratorium has had real shortcomings. As various observershave noted, forbidding earmarks has shifted spending authority to the executive branch agencies, which are not directly accountable to the public. The moratorium also has not reduced federal spending, as some advocates anticipated. Troublingly, the earmark moratorium encouraged legislators to attempt to direct spending […]

Separating myth from fact about the trou...

Separating myth from fact about the troubles of the Postal Service

The US Postal Service (USPS) generally does not make much news, but it burst into the headlinesduring the summer of 2020. The media and social media were suddenly full of allegations that theDonald Trump administration has unleashed “attacks” designed to “cripple” the Postal Serviceto justify its eventual privatization and undermine the election….(Read more)