There seems to be a bit of a row going on between Republicans, Nancy Pelosi, the stimulus bill and a mouse. Yes, we said mouse. As in, those little creatures that gnaw their way into our homes and — hopefully — find their way into our mousetraps or back outside again. But we digress.

Anyway, Republicans — angry at all the spending money in the economic stimulus bill not specifically designated for job creation — are crying foul over $30 million in the bill they say could easily be used for protecting wetland critters in Pelosi’s California districts. The stimulus bill could be voted on as early as today. How will it affect you? Read here.

"Appropriations Committee Republicans have been asking federal agencies exactly how the pots of money in the bill will be spent — since much of the spending isn’t explicitly spelled out in the legislation," Michael Steel, an aide to Minority Leader John Boehner, R-OH, wrote in an e-mail to reporters, notes Huffington Post. "One response? Thirty million dollars for wetland restoration in the San Francisco Bay Area — including work to protect the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse."

Although there has been much back and forth over whether the language is actually in the bill, once the proverbial cat was out of the bag, so was the mouse. 

The Washington Times’s headline for its story yesterday was: "Pelosi’s mouse slated for $30M slice of cheese." It says Pelosi, who represents the city of San Francisco, has previously championed preserving the mouse’s habitat in the Bay Area. Although President Obama and Democrats insist there are no "earmarks" in the bill, the fact remains that the money can likely find its way to legislators’ pet projects, including programs for sexually transmitted diseases, smoking prevention, a clean-burning power plant and a computer center.

A Pelosi spokesman said Republicans "fabricated" the claim. "The speaker nor her staff have had any involvement in this initiative. This is yet another contrived partisan attack," the spokesman said. "Restoration is key to economic activity, including farming, fisheries, recreation and clean water."