Weigel

Manu Raju reports on the letter Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is giving Tea Party activists to make the case that a ban on "earmarks" would be useless and counterproductive. I've posted a copy of the letter's summary below; in it Inhofe argues that to give up all earmarking would "cede Congress's authority to President Obama." He also derides the idea that earmarks are a "gateway drug" to other spending. That idea most often comes from Tom Coburn , Inhofe's partner in the Senate from Oklahoma.

Inhofe Earmark letter