Loading the Pork Train
A case study of why earmarks may be getting out of hand
Distorted spending. Earmarks are sometimes approved to the detriment of other important federal spending, say pork opponents. The unprecedented increase has caused a decline in significant research and development budgets, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and often circumvents the normal process of competing for research grants. Fiscal conservatives are furious at the Senate for adding $17 billion to the president's recent war and hurricane relief spending bill. The increase is due to a number of earmarks, including a $700 million project to move a railroad track in Mississippi that had been recently repaired after the hurricane. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill.
Earmarks are so intertwined with the corruption scandals on Capitol Hill that Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, calls them the "currency of corruption." Former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes in exchange for doling out defense contract earmarks. As part of the Cunningham probe, federal investigators are now trying to figure out if other lawmakers, including House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, a California Republican, steered contractors to hire friends, family, or staff or solicit campaign contributions in exchange for earmarks. Lewis denies any wrongdoing.
And Rep. Alan Mollohan, a West Virginia Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, is under scrutiny for giving millions in earmarks to groups staffed by his friends and business partners. Mollohan denies any wrongdoing.
According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal public opinion poll, 39 percent of U.S. adults said prohibiting earmarks should be the No.1 priority of Congress this session. Congress approved minor curbs on earmarks as part of the lobbying reforms passed this year. The new rules would require bills and reports to include a list of their earmarks along with the names of the requesting lawmaker.
But there's a hitch. More than 40 percent of earmarks will not be subject to these new disclosure rules, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The new regs do not include pork directed at federal entities, such as the Department of Transportation. So earmarks, like the one Senator Thune included to expand the federal loan program that benefits his former client, would be exempt.
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