Anybody know what an EARMARK is and how they work?

Question

know where to get the details of these?

Answer 1

You have received a lot of good answers so I am just going to lay it out for you in layman's terms:

Earmarks are funds assigned to certain projects that are attached to a completely unrelated appropriations bill. Say a bill is being passed that puts 25 more police on the streets in DC and say at the end of that bill there is a paragraph that says 1.5 billion dollars goes to the state of Alaska to build a bridge that goes to a city with only 50 ppl in it. (true recent earmark btw)

When that bill passes, the earmark (funds) are approved.

Earmarks increased from 1,300 in 1994 to 14,000 last year = $27 billion... so much for conservatives believing in small government and fiscal responsibility.

There are a few more facts worth noting:
- Earmarks are also used to buy votes on legislation. Say a congressman is not wanting to approve a bill. They will approach that congressman and offer him x funds to be added to that bill as an earmark if he will vote for it. This happens a lot.
- Bush recently asked congress to give him line item veto power which would allow him to cross out specific earmarks only without vetoeing the entire bill. That scares the heck out of me because I am sure he would only cross out democratic earmarks or use it to punish ppl who did not obey him.
- There is a senator named Tom Coburn whom is notorious for bringing to the congressional floor earmarks. By him bringing them up for a vote, it 'outs' them.
- This point is VERY IMPORTANT - whichever party has the majority controls what earmarks go into legislation. This means that right now democrats have been literally shut out by the republicans from getting funds to their democratic districts. It is my belief that this is Bush's way of punishing democratic districts.
-The majority leader makes the final decision as to which earmarks are allowed... there is no vote on it... nothing. Most of the time, nobody even knows about them which means a lot of the time congressman will vote on a bill that has this pork attached to it and never know they are approving it.
- There is currently a bi-partisan effort in washington to pass what is called the Pork-Barrel Reduction Act. This legislation doesn't stop earmarks but rather, it brings them out into the open.
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/021406/news1.html

Check out this PBS Now video. It is short and you will learn a lot.
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/earmarksetc.html

There is a group called Citizens Against Government Waste that print annually print a book called "The Pig Book". This group specifically targets tracking earmarks. They actually have a database of earmarks you can check out at:
http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=earmarkdatabase

Answer 2

It depends on if you're talking about earmarks on the state or the federal level. The states can be very different, but basically on the federal level it works like this.

You state senators attach language to an appropriations bill (and there are quite a few of these) that includes specific money for certain programs or initiatives. This could be health care programs or road projects or constructions projects etc that benefit their state. If the senate then passes this appropriations bill, they also pass alll of the earmarks. If they veto the bill, they veto the earmarks.

This is a common way for senators to get $$$ into their states, repay their political cronies and create high profile projects that they then use to run for re-election.

The best place to get the details is to call your state senator's office and ask them about them. They may even have them listed on their website, etc. It would be difficult to find out about earmarks that are for funds outside of your state, but if you're persistant with your senator's office, they can probably get it for you.

Answer 3

To find out the details of an earmark you have to review the enacted appropriations bills each year, quite a tough task. I do not believe there is a resource out there currently that catalogs all Congressional earmarks although there are efforts in the works to expose the members of Congress who get them inserted.

Answer 4

An earmark is a piece of pork added to a bill which becomes law with passage of the bill. Basically, they are a way of spending OUR money on pet projects, with little to no debate concerning the expense. Often earmarks are simply tacked onto a bill in return for the gaining legislator's support to pass the bill.

Answer 5

In the United States legislative budget process, Congress has the power to earmark (designate) funds it appropriates (revenue) to be spent on specific named projects. This differs from the normal practice where Congress grants a lump sum to an agency to allocate entirely at its discretion, according to the agency's internal budgeting process. Earmarks tie the hands of agency bureaucrats, obliging them to spend a portion of the budget on special projects chosen by politicians.

Total earmarks for 2005: 15,000, costing $47 billion. The House Appropriations Committee receives about 35,000 individual spending requests per year.

Answer 6

To 'earmark' something, in general usage, means to specifically tag it or designate it for a certain purpose.

For example, say a company purchases 10 boxes of printer paper per month. They know the legal department is going to go through at least 6 of those. So, they earmark those 6 for the legal dept, and no other dept is allowed to use those boxes.

In legislation, earmarks are funds allocated for a specific agency or purpose. So, say a million dollars is being given to the national parks department. The budget allocation may earmark (designate) that at least 100K be used for repair and maintenance of emergency shelters, at least 250K for improving park security, and at least 150K for advertising. Thus, half of the total budget allocation is targeted at specific projects.

If you want details of what your state or federal legislature are doing, you can go to their respective websites (or physical records) and review the budgets. Some watch-groups also provide summary reports of budget activities. Check your local listings.

Answer 7

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