What is an earmark?
A reviled method of distributing federal spending returns
THE CAPE HENRY lighthouse, built in 1792 from the same Aquia Creek sandstone as much of Washington, DC, was America’s first federally funded public-works project. Though it no longer serves its original purpose, it still stands at the windswept southern entrance to Chesapeake Bay as a monument to an early political compromise. Congress delivered it to Southern legislators in exchange for their support of a bill that placed lighthouses under federal control.
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