Two Articles

Despite earmark ban, lawmakers try to give money to hundreds of pet projects (Washington Post):
Facts:
1. Members of the House and the Senate attempted to pack hundreds of special spending provisions into at least 10 bills in the summer and fall.
2.The moratorium is a verbal commitment by the Republican leadership to prohibit lawmakers from directing federal funds to handpicked projects and groups in their districts.
3. Lawmakers have tried to get around the moratorium by promising to allow other groups to compete for the funds.
4. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.) wrote to House leaders asking that some flood-protection earmarks be restored, saying her project has been publicly vetted and her constituents’ safety is put at risk by flood-prone rivers around Sacramento.
5. The Congressional Research Service found that earmark spending nearly tripled over a 15-year period, to $31.9 billion in 2010, the year before the ban.
Source:
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=5004&category=&type=Project

Department of Energy Loan Guarantee Program: Renewable and Energy Efficiency Loan Guarantees:
Facts:
1. The Department of Energy program that backed Solyndra, a solar panel manufacturer which went bankrupt on August 31.
2. A second taxpayer-backed project, Beacon Power Corporation, has also gone bankrupt.
3. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), better known as the stimulus, created a new program of loan guarantees under the Department of Energy’s Title XVII Loan Guarantee Program, known as 1705.
4. 1705’s loan guarantees, did not require companies applying for a loan guarantee to self-pay the credit subsidy cost but rather had Congress pay it through appropriated funds.
5. The 1705 section of Title XVII is the only section that has any finalized loan guarantees out the door.
Source:
http://www.taxpayer.net/resources.php?action=issues&proj_id=4998&category=&type=Project