This is the Congress that came to power in 2006 promising to reform earmarks. Yet, the Senate couldn’t find it in its heart to pass the DeMint-McCaskill bill, which was rumored to ban earmarks for one year, but wouldn’t actually have done that — all the act mandated was that, for one year, earmarks needed a two-thirds supermajority to pass.
Claire McCaskill obviously voted for it, as she is a named sponsor. She was only one of three Senate Democrats not running for President that voted yea. Hillary and Obama both voted for it for outward appearances, even though they requested 212 and 56 earmarks for a total of $266m and $156m, respectively. John McCain voted yea, and he is more consistent, because he has requested no earmarks so far this year.
