The only way Matthews believes we can start to control ridiculous spending in Washington is to remove the “earmark” process. This is a legislative device where specific Representatives include line item spending provisions for funds that go to a specific project, often in their district. It is regularly abused with “make work” programs, and kick backs to political cronies. Richard believes the only way to clear out this undesirable spending is to commit to not apply for it himself. If we can gather consensus in Washington to end this practice we can end many of the wasteful “bridge to nowhere” type projects that squander our tax dollars.
Dutch Ruppersberger is marked at 7% and rated Hostile to the tax payers by the Citizens Against Government Waste
One example of this corruption is coming to light. Apparently, Rep. Young of Alaska inserted legislation to redirect 10 million dollars in highway funds to a project in Florida. This project was neither known about, or wanted by the locals due to environmental concerns, and surprised the house member elected from the area. It was discovered that a large real estate holder in the area, whose holdings would rise considerably with the new road project, helped raise $40,000 for Rep. Young only days before the bill passed.
Congress May Seek Criminal Probe of Altered Earmark - Washington Post

Earmark reform is only the beginning of how we can transform our nations spending to be more fit and trim, but it is a very important step.