Byrd sheds light on earmarks.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) announced new rules today requiring that “all earmarks — the footnotes in bills that lawmakers use to deliver federal bacon to their states — be clearly identified in documents accompanying appropriations bills. The requesting senator, the recipient of the earmark and its purpose would have to be made public and posted on the Internet. Senators would also be required to certify that neither they nor their spouses would benefit financially from any earmark.”