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When Instapundit and NZ Bear first launched the Porkbusters campaign, to cut fat from the federal budget, it seemed daring and audacious. Could bloggers really have a beneficial effect on government spending, via investigating, calling their representatives, and blogging about it?
The answer turns out to be "yes." The Porkbusters campaign was launched on September 18, 2005. Wikipedia states that in its first six weeks of operation it secured "$84,000,000 in specific budget cut commitments out of various Representatives and non-specific agreements out of many more."
Even more importantly, the campaign appears to be responsible for making the topic of earmarks, a matter of national debate. A Google News search for "earmark OR earmarks" for the year prior to the start of the campaign, shows 6,000 links ... versus 14,900 links for the year following the start of the campaign.
And today GWB made the subject a key part of his 2007 economic initiatives:
Bush Urges Democrats on ‘Earmarks’
Mr. Bush asked the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress today to make good on campaign promises by shining light on the previously clandestine expenditures known as “earmarks,” through legislation to require disclosure of their sponsors and other details.
Speaking in the White House’s rose garden after the Cabinet meeting, Mr. Bush noted that the soon-to-be chairmen of the House and Senate appropriations committees had agreed on a temporary moratorium on earmarks, which are parochial spending measures slipped into larger, often unrelated bills at the behest of one or a few members.
“But we need to do more,” Mr. Bush said. “Congress needs to adopt real reform that requires full disclosure of the sponsors, the costs, the recipients and the justification for every earmark.”
And he said Congress “needs to cut the number and cost of earmarks next year by half.”
The blogosphere makes Democracy more powerful and more efficient.
Update 1-12-07: Welcome, Instapundit readers!
