We are so accustomed to thinking of amendments to spending bills as examples of waste and corruption, that it’s easy to forget that some rejected amendments are worth considering or are, at the very least, of interest. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California) proposed that each public housing agency receiving funds for construction or other projects be required to employ residents of the public housing to do part of the work. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mchigan) proposed that all new roads, bridges and schools be named after “a member of the Armed Forces who died of a combat-related injury or an emergency response provider who died of an emergency response-related injury.” Last, but not least, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) demanded that no funds be used for “any duck pond, museum, skate park, equestrian center, dog park, ski hill, historic home, ice rink, splash playground, or speaker system.”