President Obama yesterday signed into law a $410 billion omnibus spending measure, which will keep federal programs funded through Sept. 30.
The package provides $55 billion for transportation, including $484 million more than last year for highway infrastructure. It sets airport capital grants for this year at the same funding level as in 2008. It also provides a $34 million increase over 2008 funding to community development block grants and an $11 million increase in public housing capital funds. Energy and water will be funded at $33.3 billion, about $2.5 billion more than last year.
The Senate approved the bill without amendments Tuesday evening by voice vote, after eight Republicans joined Democrats in favor of limiting debate, allowing it to move forward for approval without threat of Republican filibuster.
Despite the billions of dollars of earmarks contained in the omnibus measure that Obama signed, he condemned earmarks - funding for lawmakers' pet projects - and proposed a set of earmark reforms. More than 1,500 pages of earmark requests accompanied the transportation and housing portion, and nearly 1,900 pages of requests from lawmakers accompanied the energy and water development section.
"I am signing an imperfect omnibus bill because it's necessary for the ongoing functions of government," Obama said.
At the same time, he proposed a set of rules for earmarks that would require lawmakers to publicly announce their requests, mandate competitive bidding for private contracts funded by earmarks, and subject the requests to scrutiny from the executive branch to make sure they serve a "legitimate public purpose."
