The GOP House, fueled by the Tea Party, banned earmarks at the beginning of this year. However, there’s a new Defense Authorization bill on the Hill that cut money from defense, but used that money to pay for special projects. Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich says a lot people are concerned that this is “earmarks by another name.” Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz), an earmark opponent, says “It’s like squeezing a balloon, it’s gonna come out somewhere else and all we can do is try to plug every whole that we can.”
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