senator al d'amato used to be called senator pothole. he would just be everywhere, every time there was a project he would try to take credit for it. i worked for a member from new york at that time and every time he would try to do something senator d'amato would say, can i join you? host: have earmarks ever been beneficial? is there a way to perhaps regulate them as opposed to getting rid of them? thet: you cannot substitute judgment of the agencies and appropriations committees. a professor of university of virginia has put out several reports, and noted that in fiscal year 2006 there was 33,000 requests from members of congress through the appropriations committee, only in the house. what do you want? is appropriations committee not as large as the entire executive branch so there is no way to make this work. host: chris is on our republican line from silver spring, maryland. caller: good morning, how are you? the continuing budget process, it seems like a lot of the regular appropriations processes are up in the air, so a lot of tim