Coming from a libertarian, you might anticipate that this is an April Fools stunt. Not at all. I don't often find opportunity to say nice things about a Republican (or a Democrat), in Congress, but Representatives John Shadegg and Jeff Flake of Arizona have done something for which all Americans should applaud them.

I've written several times about pork projects in the federal budget, and specifically about the disgusting practice of representatives "earmarking" projects .In Throwing money away - part 1 of 2:

What makes earmarked funds worst of all federal spending is that not only are they spent for "pet projects" that will provide the representative with good press and more votes, but there is virtually NO accountability for what happens to the money once it is delivered.

Last November, in We're having PORK for Thanksgiving I listed some of the more ridiculous of the 11,732 earmarks in the 2005 Omnibus Spending Bill... earmarks having a total cost of $15.8 billion.

Today, however, we have the welcome spectacle of a pair of representatives REFUSING TO EARMARK a highway reconstruction expenditure that Phoenix officials thought was "in the bag".

Both Shadegg and fellow Arizona GOP Rep. Jeff Flake said they refused a House leadership offer of $14 million in earmarks for each of their respective districts. When they asked that their earmarked funds be allocated to the Arizona Department of Transportation for a decision on where it should go, they said Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, chairman of the House Transportation Committee and absolute KING OF EARMARKS, rejected the idea.

At last, a couple of GOP congressmen who might actually be willing to stand by their party's claims of smaller government. It's a small saving, but it's a step in the right direction, and it did take some political courage for Shadegg and Flake.