Word: barrelfuls
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...population of 50. Though the bridge was never built, the earmark became a symbol for congressional excess and waste. Transportation, as such a local issue, lends itself naturally to earmarks, and Oberstar's committee is a bit infamous on the Hill as a friendly home to such pork-barrel projects. But Oberstar is in constant contact with Obama's shadow Administration and, with the help of John Mica of Florida, the committee's top Republican, is working to keep any earmarks out of the bill. (View the 10 most outrageous earmarks...
...position, which Obama has described as one of the most important in his Administration, is part of a new initiative to control federal spending, reform massive government entitlement programs and curb the pork-barrel spending that has contributed to the country's budget-deficit crisis...
...budgets bled as billions went to bail out banks. Thousands lost their jobs or their homes, or both. Yet amid the gloom there was one reason to celebrate as the year ended: filling your car with gas got cheaper with each day. After hitting a high of $147 a barrel in July, world oil prices have crashed to their lowest levels since 2004. By Jan. 7 the cost of oil for February delivery was around $43 a barrel - less than half the price of a year earlier. Goldman Sachs last month predicted that the price could sink...
...After months of upbeat assurances, Ahmadinejad finally admitted last month that economic problems had compelled him to recalculate the 2009 budget to reflect an oil price between $30 and $35 a barrel rather than $60. He also drafted a bill to scrap lavish fuel and electricity subsidies, which give Iranians some of the world's cheapest gas (just 36¢ a gallon), even though it has to be imported from foreign refineries. The move is a high-stakes gamble for the President, who is up for re-election in June and is already cast by his opponents as the cause...
...Halfway around the world, Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez is confronting a similar predicament. Two years after Chávez won his third term, Venezuela faces a deep recession. The price Caracas gets for its oil has dropped some 70% since July to about $31 a barrel. That has left Chávez with about half the money he budgeted to spend in 2009, and doesn't take into account the millions of dollars Venezuela will lose each month if it abides by recently agreed OPEC production cuts...