Earmarks zeroed out of funding bill that prevents government shutdown

For more than a decade, members of Congress were banned from slipping spending requests for pet projects in their districts, known as earmarks, into spending bills. But as MinnPost points out, the temptation to bring back the notorious process turned out to be too great under Democratic control of Congress.

Earmarks were banned in 2011, victims of a series of scandals and an anti-spending movement fueled by the Tea Party, which considered such projects wasteful “pork.”

But proponents pushed for their return, arguing that they account for a tiny fraction of the federal budget, help to fund much-needed projects and foster consensus-building and bipartisanship in Congress as lawmakers across the political spectrum work toward common goals.

So earmarks were resurrected in 2022, in a limited way. Renamed “community funding projects,” lawmakers were required to certify that neither they nor their immediate families have any financial interest in projects they requested and to make their requests public.

Proponents defend the resumption of what used to be called pork barrel spending, noting earmarks were now limited to no more than one percent of discretionary spending. But in order to keep the federal government’s lights on, House leadership streamlined the last-minute funding bill to strip it of unnecessary spending.

To avoid a shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a new stop-gap spending bill — a so-called “continuing resolution,” or CR — last weekend that would keep the federal government running until Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

The bill would save $13 billion by eliminating all earmarks from the federal budget, make moderate cuts to some domestic and foreign aid programs and increase the Pentagon’s spending by $6 billion. Most other federal programs and agencies would be funded at 2024 levels.

After passing the House, it appears the continuing resolution will also succeed in the Senate. If so, numerous pet projects around the state will have to proceed without federal funding, at least for the time being.

Other earmark requests that have been derailed include $5 million to help build a new water treatment plant in Eagle Lake, $2.4 million to replace a 70-year-old water main in Manchester, $4 million to reconstruct a library in St. Paul, $2.5 million to build a new police station in New Prague, $8.4 million for a new tribal court building for the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and funding for dozens of other Minnesota-based projects.

“Not only does the Republican’s CR cut funding for our veterans and seniors, but it fails to fund community projects that we had previously negotiated,” said Rep. Angie Craig, D-2nd District, who submitted the request for New Prague’s police station as well as funding for other projects.  

The total savings from scrapping earmarks for the fiscal year amounts to an estimated $13 billion. The would-be recipients will be welcome to apply for funding again next year.