Since the Porkbusters effort launched just five weeks ago, the blogosphere has had great success in raising the visibility of pork spending in the media and in Washington. Where just a month ago Tom Delay felt perfectly comfortable saying there was no fat left in federal budget after years of Republican rule, now, the political climate has changed, and there actually seems to be a real chance to change the culture of fiscal irresponsibility that has become the norm on Capitol Hill.

To that end, Porkbusters is shifting its focus from raising awareness of pork to calling attention to specific legislation that actually starts eliminating pork. The first bill that we are focusing on is sponsored by seven Senators who have styled themselves the "Fiscal Responsibility Team": Tom Coburn, Sam Brownback, Jim DeMint, John Ensign, Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and John Sununu.

I had the pleasure of being invited to a conference call with Senator Coburn last week. I was impressed by what appeared to me to be his sincere desire to confront the idiocy involved in our current fiscal policies, even if it meant pissing off his fellow Senators.

Last week, Coburn and six other Senators released an "offset package" aimed at identifying budget cuts to pay for hurricane relief. The key provision in the bill for our purposes is that it would elminate all "offsets" ( i.e., pork) in the highway bill --- wiping away a vast chunk of pork in a single stroke.

In addition, the proposal goes further, including the following:

• A freeze on cost-of-living adjustments for federal employees, including members of Congress, with the exception of law enforcement and military personnel.

• A two-year delay in implementation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit except for low-income seniors who would receive $1,200 in assistance with their drug discount cards.

• A requirement that those with higher incomes pay higher Medicare Part B premiums in 2006, rather than in 2007 as currently scheduled.

• A cut of 5% to all federal spending programs except those which impact national security, with 1% set aside for funding of essential programs.

The press release from Senator Coburn's office can be found here ; the full text of the bill is not yet available, but I'm told I'll receive it shortly once it is ready.

The Porkbusters page at TTLB will now show, state by state, which Senators have signed on in support of this proposal, and which are opposing it. As before, we are encouraging bloggers and blog-readers to contact their Senators to find out their positions and report back to us.

In addition, the main PB page now has a tracking feature similar to the Miers page I did last week to allow bloggers to declare their support for the offset package. As before, the method for declaring your support is simple: post to your blog and include the phrase 'I support the Fiscal Watch Team Offset Package'. (Group blogs can use 'We' as appropriate.) Your position will be noted during the nightly Ecosystem scans and will appear the following morning.

Please take the time to visit the Porkbusters pages, to review the offset package proposal, and to take note of those Senators who are supporting efforts to eliminate wasteful spending --- and those who are not. And then contact your Senator and ask them which group they are in --- and let us know what they say...