An earmark is a Congressional funds appropriation that the money go to a specific individual, for a specific project. For Congressmen, trying to grab a portion of the more than 14,000 annual pork projects consumes nearly all of their time. Besides the billions in government waste, government has exploded in size with little improvement in basic services. Congressmen and Senators have come to believe that the path to reelection is paved with who can “bring home the most bacon” in order to appease thier voters and lobbiests. Would a farm bill filled with hundreds of millions in subsidies for ethanol buy farm votes? Prescription drugs to buy senior votes? Highway bill to buy union and labor votes?
The entire earmark process is ripe with quid pro quo: the more senior congressmen control the earmarks attached to it by requiring support for the entire bill. The result: the American public gets saddled with a massive and wasteful $250 billion highway bill, supported by a Congressman who would have voted against it, but for the inclusion of $10 million for his district.
As the Heritage Foundation recently noted:
"What’s the solution? Lawmakers assert that they, rather than federal bureaucrats and state governments, are qualified to distribute government grants in their districts. If so, why not dissolve the federal bureaucracy and relevant state agencies? Lobbying reform is also helpful, but as long as lawmakers continue to distribute government grants, organizations will find a way to lobby and financially influence them."
Why not just ban all pork and earmarks? Congress could ban any legislation that specifies which businesses, organizations or locations will receive federal monies. Thus, those who seek to earn money contained in a bill will have to go through the awards process to obtain such an award.
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