What are earmarks and I heard cons have used them in record numbers?

Question

I don't know if they are bad because I don't know what they are.

Answer 1

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's another name for pork (or pork barrel spending). Earmarks have increased 350% since 2000. There are 9,963 projects in the 11 appropriations bills that constitute the discretionary portion of the federal budget for fiscal 2006, costing taxpayers $29 billion.

Some examples of pork from 2006:
$4,200,000 for shrimp aquaculture research in Ariz., Hawaii, La., Mass., Miss., S.C., and Texas.
$1,300,000 for Alaskan berry research
$160,000 for poultry litter composting in WV
$1,099,000 for alternative salmon products
$3,000,000 for the Southern and Eastern Kentucky Tourism Development Association
$100,000 for the Richard Steele Boxing Club in Henderson, Nevada
$550,000 for the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA
$500,000 for construction of the Sparta Teapot Museum in Sparta, North Carolina
$250,000 for the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa

Answer 3

Earmarks are the same thing as pork spending in most cases.

Answer 4

Earmarks is what Earopeans use for money.

Answer 5

Me neither..Probably a new word Al Gore invented..

Answer 6

Isn't that what's left on your skin after you get Foleyed???