Where do the earmarks in Earmark Watch come from?
Currently, the earmarks listed in Earmark Watch come from the committee reports that describe the provisions in three bills: The House and Senate versions of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bills and the House version of the Defense appropriations bill. Taxpayers for Common Sense extracts the earmark disclosures from the bills and enters them into spreadsheets (all of which are available online here). Earmarks in the conference reports for the two versions of the Labor, HHS and Education bill specify recipients, the sponsor or sponsors of the earmark, and the dollar amount of the earmark. The conference report for the House Defense appropriations bill lists sponsors, dollar amounts but does not list recipients — rather the name of the program to be funded is provided.
