RAND SIMBERG SPOTS SOME EARMARK CHICANERY: “Unfortunately, the current CR compounds that error with what seems to be the only earmark in the entire CR (which was supposed to be an ‘austerity’ measure), rumored to be by the request of the minority leader. The CR contains an ‘anomaly’ — language specifically appropriating three billion of NASA’s exploration budget to these activities — $1.8B for the SLS and $1.2B for Orion, in the current fiscal year, an increase over the authorization (something that had been supposedly sacrosanct).”