With the growing public concern for government spending, Democrats and Republicans are competing to show their commitment to earmark reform.
Earmarks are provisions tacked onto larger legislation to fund politicians’ pet projects. They are often granted from party leaders to legislators in exchange for their vote on a bill, and from legislators to special interests in exchange for their campaign support.
Democrats recently voted to ban earmarks for for-profit entities. Republicans countered with a year-long ban on all earmarks. Neither plan covers what a Washington Post article describes as “undisclosed earmarks,” which include spending on defense contractors competing for funds.
Earmarks should be eliminated not just to for-profits and for one year but to all groups and permanently.
Representative David Obey (D-WI) claims that the Democrats’ plan to ban earmarks to for-profits will reduce total earmarks by 1,000 and “break the link between campaign contributions and earmarks that has sparked intense criticism.”
Taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to fund politically-favored non-profits anymore than it should be used to fun politically-favored businesses.
9,499 earmarks were granted in 2010, so close to 90 percent of earmarks were awarded to organizations other than for-profits. These organizations – including nonprofits and unions – spend millions on lobbyists, pay millions in executive compensation, and gain at the expense of taxpayers just like for-profit recipients of earmarks.
Besides, for-profits benefit from earmarks to non-profits by contracting with the non-profit recipients – a process from which Obey himself is not immune – according to the same Washington Post article mentioned above.
The elimination of earmarks – saving an estimated $16 billion – will not meaningfully address our deficit problem. Yet the move would be a positive step toward fiscal responsibility since earmarks represent pure waste and special interest politics at its worst. Not to mention, Americans are fed up with regularly learning of the ridiculous earmark projects funded with their money.
Be cautiously optimistic. Political promises to eliminate earmarks are common. The only way to end earmarks is for the public to demand their Members of Congress forgo earmarks and hold the rest of their colleagues to the same standard.
