The admin's PR budget

The American Prospect's blog cites a report by the Committee on Gov't Reform, headed by Henry Waxman. Now that attention is being given to payoffs the government has made to conservative pundits, will anyone take a look at what's been given to PR firms?

From the story:

In 2000, the last full fiscal year of the Clinton Administration, the federal government spent $38.6 million on 64 contracts with major public relations agencies. In 2001, the first year of the Bush Administration, the federal government spent $36.6 million on 67 contracts with major public relations agencies.

In 2002, the first fully budgeted year of the Bush Administration, federal spending on PR contracts increased to $64.7 million on 67 contracts. This spending level remained steady in 2003, during which $64 million was spent on 95 contracts. In 2004, spending by the federal government on PR contracts rose again. Last fiscal year, the federal government spent $88.2 million on 60 contracts with public relations agencies.

In 2004 alone -- an election year, perhaps not coincidentally -- the Bush administration spent 17 percent more on PR than the Clinton administration did in its last two budgets combined.