The New York Times’ Ron Nixon reports on “soft earmarks,” a phenomenon where members of Congress implicitly tells federal agencies to allocate money to pet projects. An ethics reform law passed last year forces all hard earmarks—explicit directions by a lawmaker to direct money toward project X—to be disclosed. But ...

President Bush used part his final State of the Union to denounce Congressional earmarks. But instead of demanding Congress change its behavior, the President wants to attack earmarks through federal agencies. The Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman analyses his promise to issue an executive order that agencies don’t follow ...