A few years after the
earmark ban took effect, he told the Boston Globe, "What we're seeing is a natural experiment where we say, 'Let's try to run Congress without
earmarks for a few years.
60) The
earmark process, which serves discrete interests and is dominated by long-serving appropriators and specialized staffs, is a perfect target for the distrust they describe.
Two telling examples of small
earmarks that brought funds directly to populations that needed them most--populations that lack "connections" or "clout," but are deeply deserving of support--were announced in July 2010, shortly before the informal moratorium on
earmarks took hold.
Members of the congressional appropriations committees have an advantage over their colleagues in their access to
earmarks.
Talmadge Heflin, the director of the Center for Fiscal Policy at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, doesn't think eliminating
earmarks will eliminate all the spending.
said the
earmark process occasionally lets a "good project" through.
An
earmark may be included in a bill or report language at the
The package, centered on a 2,200-word story, includes content supplied by 25 daily newspapers that have been reporting on the
earmarks of their local congressional delegations since April.
Recently, however,
earmarks have been attracting heightened scrutiny.
Waiters noted that in education,
earmarks often go to large public universities and private colleges with their own cadre of lobbyists.
The department stated it could not verify the conclusion that most
earmarks fit its mission, saying "the diversity of the
earmark projects .
In fiscal year (FY) 2006, R & D
earmarks set a new record, climbing to $2.
I was at a meeting on
earmark reform a few weeks ago," he said, "and someone asked the question whether there's a constitutional right to
earmarks.
It's a problem that I have sought to expose by selecting an "Egregious
Earmark of the Week" to ridicule.
It was an omnibus bill, and it was loaded with some 8,000
earmarks, which is perhaps why it passed.
