Friends, Romans, interest groups, lend me your earmarks

This is going to be a real brief explanation of what earmarks are. Some of you may have heard this referred to in news items, but most Americans really don't understand what they are, how they get there, and what effect it has on the American political system. A better explanation of it can be found in this article.

The US Government votes a budget and assigns money to specific programs. Usually, qualifying institutions/persons have to apply for that money in order to get a government grant. Unless...a congressperson can get part of that program's budget "earmarked" for an organization to receive. Now, the problem isn't that this then leads to a higher budget amount; no extra money is needed to set aside an earmark. The threat of corruption lies in the idea that those who give the most money to a candidate for office will expect money from a government grant program to make sure to have money set aside for his organization. Thus, government grant money will go to "the highest bidder."

Who had the largest number of earmarks this past term?

Take a guess.

Coach