New Online Tool Brings Transparency to Earmarks

On EarmarkWatch.org, Citizen Journalists Investigate Pork-barrel Spending

September 24, 2007

Contact: Gabriela Schneider 202-742-1520 ext 236

WASHINGTON, DC - EarmarkWatch.org, a new project from the Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense, lets citizens determine if earmarks - the measures inserted by members of Congress into the various appropriations bills that direct funds to a specific project or recipient - address pressing needs, favor political contributors or are simply pure pork.

Building on Taxpayers for Common Sense's (TCS) ground-breaking research and cataloging of earmarks, TCS and Sunlight Foundation today are launching EarmarkWatch.org, a user-friendly investigative tool and social networking site that enables citizens to add to the growing body of research into congressional spending.

"When Congress adopted new rules to provide more disclosure of earmark spending, Americans immediately volunteered to band together online to investigate whether their tax dollars pay for legitimate constituent needs or political favors," said Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation. "To meet this demand, we created EarmarkWatch.org to bring real citizen oversight to congressional earmarks with a few clicks of the mouse."

TCS created databases of the thousands of earmarks in the Fiscal Year 2008 spending bills; the Sunlight Foundation developed and designed the user interface. The Sunlight Foundation has been a leader in the development of citizen journalism tools, and has completed several successful citizen journalism projects, including "Congress as a Family Business."

"Knowledge is power, and EarmarkWatch.org will arm the nation's taxpayers with information about how lawmakers are spending federal dollars and empower citizens to challenge the murky world of special interest spending," said Ryan Alexander, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.

For the first time, constituents can research, evaluate and comment on the pet projects favored and funded by their members of Congress. Users are guided through a series of steps that an investigative reporter would follow, associating different kinds of political information with each earmark, and then they can further explore the information that interests them (or consult a handy list of tips and suggestions for continuing their research.)

EarmarkWatch.org guides citizen journalists to online resources on campaign finance, lobbying and federal spending, including OpenSecrets.org and FedSpending.org. Users can also comment on and fact-check one another's work, or send messages - including tips and suggestions - to others.

In an alpha test of the tool, Sunlight researchers used it to determine that 17 of the 27 recipients of Defense earmarks sponsored by Rep. James Moran had contributed to his campaign or leadership PAC in 2007 - some $99,900 in all. Those 17 firms were showered with earmarks worth $24 million.

EarmarkWatch.org provides a single, elegant online repository for research and information on earmarks generated by concerned citizens interested in what their representatives in Congress are doing. At its launch, the site includes nearly 3,800 earmarks from three bills: the House Defense Appropriations bill and both the House and Senate versions of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations bill. Sunlight and TCS will continue to develop the site, allowing for different kinds of research and information to be added to it, including earmarks from other appropriations bills.

The Sunlight Foundation supports, develops and deploys new Internet technologies to make information about Congress and the federal government more accessible to the American people. Through its projects and grant-making, Sunlight serves as a catalyst to create greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government.

Taxpayers for Common Sense is an independent voice for American taxpayers and is dedicated to cutting wasteful government spending and subsidies in order to achieve a responsible and efficient government that operates within its means.

###