CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
Feb. 24, 2009 – 10:10 p.m.
Democrats, GOP Trade Accusations Over Earmarks in Omnibus Legislation
By Bennett Roth, CQ Staff
House Democrats are working to undercut accusations by Republicans that the omnibus spending bill represents a spending spree on earmarks — and pointedly noting that the measure includes a healthy number of GOP-sponsored special projects.
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., distributed a handout Tuesday at his weekly news conference entitled, “You can’t spell ‘earmark’ without an ‘R,’” which stated that 40 percent of the earmark dollars included in the bill were sponsored by Republicans.
The appropriations omnibus (
“Republicans are continuing to try to sweep their history under the rug and convince the American people that they are committed to fiscal responsibility,” stated the handout. “But their record on earmarks and the amount of earmarks contained in the omnibus appropriations bill make it clear that Republicans are just using this as another political ploy.”
Earmarks are provisions in bills directing funding at specific projects — nearly always in the districts or states of the lawmakers seeking them. Critics say such funding does not get the scrutiny of other federal spending and is often based on the clout of the lawmakers.
At President Obama’s insistence, lawmakers restrained their earmarking desires when writing the economic stimulus package (PL 111-5). But Republicans have taken aim at the omnibus bill, which is loaded with special projects.
Minority Leader John A. Boehner , R‑Ohio, who on Tuesday reiterated his call for keeping spending at fiscal 2008 levels, said he has long supported changes in earmarking rules and expects a task force he created to issue a report next week that will better define such projects.
Boehner said that lawmakers and watchdog groups have differed about what constitutes an earmark, particularly in areas such as defense.
“When you are fighting for certain programs in the defense budget that you think are important for the military, some people would describe that as an earmark,” Boehner said.
Kevin Brady , R-Texas, said that there are Republicans who “wholeheartedly believe” in earmarks but that a majority of GOP lawmakers want to curtail a practice that has been used by House leaders to prod lawmakers to vote for bad legislation.
“Earmarks are the tools of whoever is in the majority,” Brady said. “It is the sugar that sweetens unhealthy bills.”
Differing Numbers
There are conflicting estimates of how many earmarks there are in the current omnibus bill. The Democratic leadership estimates that the total earmark value is about $3.8 billion. But the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense has estimated that there are 8,570 earmarks worth about $7.7 billion in the measure.
Steve Ellis, the vice president for Taxpayers for Common Sense, said his group labels spending items such as the numerous water projects in the Army Corps of Engineers budget as earmarks, but the congressional leadership does not.
Ellis said that it has been common practice in recent years for the majority party to allocate 40 percent of the earmarks for the minority party. He said that in fiscal 2008, Republicans received 43 percent of the earmarks. When Republicans controlled Congress, they provided a similar share to the Democrats, he said.
“It’s a get-along, go-along system to make sure the minority gets their share, to make sure they are bought off,” Ellis said. Nevertheless, he said Democrats now control the appropriations process and have the power to more seriously curb the practice.
“At the end of the day I hold the people writing the bills most responsible,” he said. “The ‘they do it too’ is not a responsible governing argument.”
Ellis said the Democrats have reduced slightly the number of earmarks, which reached their peak in 2005.
He said the dollar value of earmarks for fiscal year 2009, including the three spending bills previously approved last year, was $14.3 billion. That is down from $14.8 billion in earmarks in fiscal year 2008, according to his group.
Still, Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., said he would call on Obama to veto the omnibus if passed in its current form due to earmarks.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., disputed the legitimacy of Republican complaints about earmarks in the omnibus.
He said Republicans were responsible for past scandals involving earmarks and disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, which he said kept lawmakers from doing “our appropriations process in an appropriate manner.”
Reid noted that Democrats have halved earmarks. “Clean congressionally mandated spending is part of our job. That’s what we do. We shouldn’t depend on bureaucrats downtown.”
He said the omnibus is “truly a bill that has been involved with Republican input, not for a day, not for a week, but for months now.”
Reid said he thinks there will be enough GOP votes to invoke cloture on the bill and move forward.
Kathleen Hunter and Josh Rogin contributed to this story.
Comments
Count me among the people who like earmarks when they are programs to help the district or state they represent. There are a few earmarks that are questionable (not necessarily referring to this specific bill, but in general), particulary when they are done more to satisfy a campaign contributor than what's best for the district and what's financially most suitable--but these bad ones are few and far between. If earmarks were so bad why do both parties continue to request them for as long as I can remember?
Is this the best the Democrats can say " well the republicans put in earmarkls too". Are they saying two wrongs make a right? Someone has to stand up and say no more earmarks, no matter who put them in.
The GOP must believe that anything a Dem sponsors is an 'earmark' and anything they want is not. They called the $ in the stimulus bill for the 2010 Census - an earmark. when it clearly benefits the entire country AND creates a ton on jobs - albeit temp jobs - but jobs that pay a decent wage.
Come on granma wake up !!! This was not a stimulus bill it was a spending bill. It was a bunch of liberal democrats pushing through a bill of all the crap theyve wanted to do over the past eight years. Obama is who we thought he was. A socialist. The economy is his second priority behind a socialist ideology. He found the perfect time to pass it through when the US was in panic mode from the financial crisis and he could BS them that this was the way to recovery. They could have stimulated the economy 10 times better for half the money. Its a proven fact that when you decrease taxes revenue to the government increases yet these libs keep saying the system is unfair. Ya it is unfair to have me pay 35 cents on a dollar when another pays 10 cents. And increase small business taxes even more??? We already have one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world. Thats why everybody is moving companies outside the US. I know buffet and his advisors have to be telling him all this but he doesnt care. He wants a socialist state. While this plan short term will add GDP, long term it is huge debt and wasteful spending. Most economists predicted the US would have recovered from the recession this year without it. Unfortunately , now we will have to tend to inflation later on and our kids will be burdened with tons more debt than they already had from the bush admin. All you idiots who voted for change well here it comes in the form of bigger government full of waste and corruption and higher taxes to make businesses and entrepreneurs less productive . Bend over here comes your change. Obamanomics, Penalize success ; reward failure and make everyone have to count on the government.
POST A COMMENT
Oops! The following errors must be addressed: