1) EARMARKS

Originally a cut or mark in the ear of sheep and cattle, serving as a sign of ownership; now used in figurative sense as a financial term.

In a normal process of financing, Congress grants a yearly lump sum of money to a Federal agency.

With an earmark, Congress has given itself the ability to direct a specified amount of money from an agency’s budget to be spent on a particular project.

When president Obama delivered his resent speech to members of Congress, republicans gave him a warm reception, but some of them laughed with disbelief when he said the stimulus was free of earmarks.

As a matter of fact, the proposed stimulus package includes $4 billion in earmarks.