I find the argument for earmarks that its only 1% of the total bill price is hilarious. What an awesome way to do business....the bigger the price of the main body of the bill the smaller percentage the earmark will make up....no one would dare do 1 million of earmarks for a 4 million dollar bill, for a 4 mill you just do 40k, no fuss. But the more earmarks you want the more you need to spend altogether so theres plenty of reason to overspend: you don't want to look like you are overspending! It's all so clearz now!