Fed Secrecy and Leftover Earmarks — ProPublica

Fed Secrecy and Leftover Earmarks

by Alexandra Andrews

March 5, 2009, 12:12 p.m. EST

Quick Picks focuses on a select few of the day's stories from "Breaking on the Web."

Bloomberg News filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Federal Reserve in November seeking information on 11 of its lending programs, but yesterday the Fed refused to "disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans," Bloomberg reports. The Fed has defended its secrecy by warning that "loss in confidence in and between financial institutions can occur with lightning speed and devastating effects."
A budgeting bill headed to a Senate vote this week steers $227 million to 458 pet projects of lawmakers who aren't even in office anymore, reports USA Today. But House Appropriations Committee spokeswoman Kirstin Brost defended the leftover earmarks: "If something was in the public interest a few months ago," she said, "there is no reason to believe it won't still be in the public interest today."

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