PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Here’s the AP story on pork promised earlier. Excerpt:

A controversy over earmarks – the congressional name for funding pet projects – is particularly intense. Especially since one GOP-led committee compiled a secret tally sheet showing earmark requests made by Republicans calling for reform.

“Earmarks have become the currency of corruption,” Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., recently wrote Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill. “We can’t allow this to continue.”

High on the list of challenges for the GOP is the annual drafting of a budget. President Bush’s appearance on Friday’s program was a reminder that he’s calling for $70 billion in savings over five years from benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps and payments to farmers.

Read the whole thing. And also read this WSJ piece by Tom Coburn. (Free link).