Pet Projects' Veil Is Only Partly Lifted

Energy officials offered the committee written proof that there was agreement between the administration, Congress and the lab to end its funding after 2007, but lawmakers still demanded more money.

"The Savannah River Ecology Lab served the Department of Energy, the communities affected by the site and the nation for more than 50 years," Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) said at a hearing last month. "It was, by any financial measure, a very inexpensive lab to operate. It would be hard to find a better return on investment anywhere in the federal science complex."

Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Tex.) added: "There is simply no reason for DOE to discontinue funding. There are funds available. There is work to be done."

The tongue-lashing did not persuade the department to cough up the money, however, so Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), chairman of the full committee, added a new threat. Gordon told the department's chief financial officer in a letter that he would not approve funding that the department requested for a bio-energy lab unless it allocated $2 million to help keep the ecology lab afloat.

"We have received no follow-up from DOE to the letter as yet," said Alisha Prather, the committee's spokeswoman.

Other lawmakers do not play as roughly to get the money they want. Sometimes they just write a letter and then make a phone call.

Emanuel, who is chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and was a major proponent of making earmarks in spending bills more transparent, said he followed up his letters with a call to Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman.

"I'm on bended knee," he said of the call. "I have to go to an executive in another party and ask for resources, but the people in my district elected me to fight for these things."

Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said Emanuel's requests have not been funded. "We regularly hear from members of Congress for support on various projects, and this year was no different. We look at each of these projects on the merits," she said.

Emanuel defended his requests as "a good public investment" and added: "If I think it is good, I'm going to use all the tools to fight for it, whether it is an earmark, letter-writing or lighting myself on fire. I may even go on a hunger strike."

But he declined to say whether he and other lawmakers ought to disclose their private contacts with federal agencies when they seek money for projects. "Let me just say that I'm a big believer in transparency," Emanuel said.