President Bush has called on Congress to implement reforms that would eliminate last-minute spending measures being added to bills.
In his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush said Congress can impose more discipline on federal spending by eliminating such measures, known as earmarks. He said earmarks are usually added at the last minute, so they never get debated or discussed. He said the number of such measures has exploded in the past 10 years, from 3,000 in 1996 to 13,000 in 2006.
The president said Congress agreed to a temporary moratorium on such measures this year, but added that much more needs to be done.
Some information for this report provided by AP.
