This week, the United States Senate is considering an appropriations bill for projects conducted by the Department of the Interior. There’s a lot of money at stake, and a great deal of debt, fiscal and political, being created.

Into this process, Senator Judd Gregg dropped an ounce of restraint yesterday, with amendment 2361, which would prohibit the use of stimulus funds approved earlier this year to pay for signs indicating that a project was paid for with stimulus funds.

The amendment reads, Notwithstanding any other provision of law, none of the funds made available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5) may be used for physical signage to indicate that a project is being funded by that Act. The title of the amendment, however, gives a more direct explanation of the rationale behind it: “To prohibit the use of stimulus funds for self-congratulatory signage that allows lawmakers to promote their spending of taxpayer dollars on stimulus projects.”

It wouldn’t be exactly true that signs announcing the use of economic stimulus money do no good. After all, sign-making companies are paid to produce those signs, and that places some money into the economy. It’s also true that the amount of money spent on signage to indicate spending is nearly microscopic when compared to total stimulus spending. So, as an anti-spending measure, Gregg’s amendment is so minor as to be nearly frivolous.

However, there was a larger issue at stake with amendment 2361. The signs declaring that projects in certain areas were funded through stimulus legislation usually include the name of a United States senator or member of the House of Representatives. These signs amount to a form of political campaigning, demonstrating that a member of Congress is able to bring money into constituents’ communities. That’s an inappropriate use of public funds, and so it makes sense to ban the use of stimulus funds to pay for these signs.

However, Senator Gregg’s amendment did not pass. It was defeated by a vote of 52 to 45. Every senator voting against the amendment was a Democrat, except for independent senators Joseph Lieberman and Bernard Sanders, who joined in to vote no.

Not every vote in favor of the amendment was a Republican vote, however. Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand, Blanche Lincoln, Amy Klobuchar and Charles Schumer joined the Republicans in supporting this worthwhile piece of political restraint.