The Old Pork Ball Game

Some Lawmakers Hit Home Runs on Earmarks

The big spending package passed by Congress in its recent lame-duck session may have put the squeeze on the Department of Education, but the folks at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum surely won’t be complaining.

After all, they’re slated to get $450,000 of the department’s appropriation. Tucked into the sprawling omnibus bill for fiscal 2005 are thousands of such earmarks—which critics call “pork barrel” spending—for projects in lawmakers’ home states and districts that faced no public...