The U.S. Capitol building as seen from East Capitol Street in February 2021. | Chris Jantsch, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped
The U.S. Capitol building as seen from East Capitol Street in February 2021. | Chris Jantsch, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped
Congressional earmarks are back, with some critics calling them a bridge to nowhere.
Earmarks make it easier to fund pet projects, the Washington Examiner reported. House Democrats were first to restore earmarks in February. This month Republicans voted to lift their own ban on them as well, the story said.
For more than a decade there has been bipartisan opposition to earmarks, with former President Barack Obama campaigning against them in 2008, citing the “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska that was never completed, the Examiner said.
Some Republican House members have argued that if Democrats accept earmarks, they don’t want the Biden administration to make funding decisions for their districts.
“I think members here know what's most important about what's going on in their district, not Biden," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters, the Examiner reported. "I think members want to have a say in their own district."
However, in a Feb. 24 statement, The Conservative Action Project came out against resuming earmarks.
“We urge all congressional Republicans to oppose this effort,” the group said. “The widespread practice of earmarks was corrupting. Earmarks were used to buy and sell votes and reward favors. Earmarks brought discredit on the House and Senate, and ultimately led to several members of Congress being convicted on corruption charges.”
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and other House members are asking Republicans to pledge not to accept earmarks.
“Make no mistake, these will be used as currency for votes as Democrat leadership buys off moderates who do not support their party’s radical policy agenda,” he said, The Hill reported. "This chamber has already made it clear that it is no longer the 'People’s House' in any true sense, but consolidating even more power in party leadership would be another institutional embarrassment on a list that’s already too long.”
In 2018, President Donald Trump said Congress should consider “ going back to a form of earmarks," NBC reported. The current system “really lends itself to not getting along,” Trump said.
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