Politico.com: Senators do not want to kill the golden eggs duck

It sounds like a joke, but it is not. The good old law makers will not kill their most valuable source of money and power, is a fact. Once again, while the attention of the public is in the presidential race, "Senate traditionalists and small state senators teamed up to crush the politically popular push to attach an earmark moratorium to the congressional budget resolution." (See more on Politico.com)

For those who are not familiar with the term "earmark".....

According to wikipedia "In public finance, an earmark is a requirement that all or a portion of a certain source of revenue, such as a particular tax, be devoted to a specific public expenditure. For example, in the United Kingdom a tax on televisions (known as the television licence) is directly allocated to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Earmarking bypasses the normal procedure by which tax revenue is pooled in a general fund and then allocated among various government spending programs as opposed to a specific program"

Critics argue the ability to earmark Federal funds should not be part of the legislative appropriations process [3]. Tax money should be applied by Federal agencies according to objective findings of need and carefully constructed requests rather than being earmarked arbitrarily by elected officials. Supporters of earmarks however, feel that elected officials are better able to prioritize funding needs in their own districts and states and that it is more democratic for these officials to make discreet funding decisions than unelected civil servants. Critics counter that elected representatives have too much of a vested interest in their own districts and do not have the Nation's interests as a whole in mind when making these decisions with taxpayer money.