While Democrats claimed a larger share than Republicans of the nearly $16 billion in earmarks in the latest federal spending bill, G.O.P. projects jumped by 85 percent.
Senator Richard C. Shelby made the most of his perch on the committee that controls federal spending. Now he’s leaving Congress, where his way of doing business is a fading art.
Readers express the concerns of the immunocompromised and the elderly. Also: Subway safety after the Brooklyn attack; reforming earmarks; Ukraine’s path.
Democrats and Republicans alike stuffed nearly 5,000 earmarks totaling $9 billion into the $1.5 trillion government spending bill signed by President Biden.