Foxx says she is swearing off earmarks

WASHINGTON (Winston-Salem Journal) - U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx played a key role in earmarking money for high-tech gear for Winston-Salem police, transplant research at Wake Forest University, and other local projects in the large spending bill that Congress passed yesterday.

Don’t expect a repeat next year. Foxx, R-5th, said she is done using earmarks to steer federal money to local projects.

The $555 billion spending bill, which will finance most of the federal government in 2008, contained thousands of earmarks - local financing requests from members of Congress that are often derided as wasteful pork.