WASHINGTON, March 7 (UPI) -- A new report says U.S. lawmakers appear to be finally cutting back on pork.
The Citizens Against Government Waste's 2007 Congressional Pig Book is the smallest since 1999, with only two of 11 appropriations bills enacted by Congress.
The watchdog group credits the smaller pork barrel to the efforts of Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who prevented the enactment of nine appropriations bills in December and the subsequent moratorium on earmarks announced and enforced by the House and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairmen David Obey, D-Wis., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.
The report says there was still plenty of pork to cause taxpayer concern, with 2,658 projects stuffed into the Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations Acts at a cost of $13.2 billion.
"The tide is turning in the earmark debate because American taxpayers and groups like CAGW have told Congress that it's time to shut down the favor factory," Coburn said in a release.
