Those fiscally tough DemocratsThe Monitor's View Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd is known as the "king of pork." That's for the bacon he brings home to West Virginians, carved from a largely secretive budgeting process in Congress called earmarking. Now, thankfully, he's laying aside his scepter. Or at least temporarily. Mr. Byrd, who is the new Senate appropriations chair, and his Democratic counterpart in the House have declared an earmark moratorium on a pile of leftover spending bills that the GOP-led Congress failed to pass last year. Until the process is made more transparent and accountable, there'll be no earmark projects for the next budget year either, they say. The moratorium serves two purposes for the newly empowered Democrats. At a time of high deficits, it can help divert spending to more popular items on their agenda. And it adds credibility to their pledge of fiscal responsibility. read full article at source> http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0102/p08s01-comv.html