Wisconsin's senior member of Congress has declared that earmarks in the federal budget for local projects will be eliminated in the current federal budget. Mike Simonson reports.

Since there are thousands of earmarks in past federal budgets for hometown projects of members of Congress, the radical move by incoming House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey is seen as severe. But Obey says Republicans who have controlled Congress abused earmarks. "There are some people who have fouled the nest by their abuse of the process. We need to reform the process by which earmarks are provided before we provide any additional earmarks. So we are suspending them for this fiscal year." Earmarks aren't necessarily wasteful. They are designed to prioritize local projects needed by communities. So Obey says this is a temporary move until they can restore integrity to the system. He's mum on just how he and Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd will do it. "I will lay that out when the time comes. I don't intend to publicly describe what we intend to do until we vote on it because I don't want to give every lobbyist three weeks advance notice on how to torpedo what it is we're trying to do." In fact, Obey says it will mean an end to funding many local programs across the country including his own seventh congressional district in northern Wisconsin.

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