Congress slated $5.6B in bills for private sector

USA Today reports:

Congress steered $5.6 billion to private companies in 2005 — more than state and local governments combined — through its power to add special-interest items to spending bills, a new government database shows.

The database, completed by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) this month, identifies nearly 15,000 earmarks totaling almost $19 billion. "Earmarks," which are inserted into spending legislation at a lawmaker's request for specific programs or projects, have been involved in recent scandals at the Capitol.

Critics say earmarks to private companies are particularly prone to improper influence or outright graft.

"It creates a lot of room for mischief, a lot of temptation for doing wrong. It's corrupted our system," says Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

Defenders of earmarks say they're an important exercise of Congress' power over spending. "Reducing earmarks tilts power toward the president and away from Congress," says Richard Kogan of the non-partisan Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. "In the broadest sense, to say you don't like earmarks is to say we don't think our elected representatives should decide where the money should go, our appointed ones should."

Theft on a large scale.