Memo to British readers; if you thought MPs were bad, try members of Congress…

To the extent that the United States Congress has abandoned any pretense of honouring the idea of fiscal restraint, it should be said that earmarks – or pork barrel spending – is a tiny problem when set beside the Pentagon’s budget and future spending commitments on entitlements. Still, earmarks are what folk like to huff and puff about, allowing everyone to seem as though they’re highly-principled, moral beings determined to crack-down on wasteful government spending. Of course, they’re really just tinkering at the edges.

So there’s a certain chutzpah involved when George W Bush vetoes any spending bill. On the other hand, this sort of bill actually should be vetoed and the members of Congress responsible pilloried. To wit, as the New York Times reports, “namesake” pork projects remain as popular as ever:

Buried deep in the largest domestic spending bill of the year is money for a library and museum honoring first ladies.