Earmark defenders argue that Congress is simply adhering to the Constitution. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Let’s start by establishing a definition for a congressional earmark: It’s a specific amount of money for a specific project at a specific place.
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Earmarks got a bad name in the mid-2000s. There were multiple ethics investigations in the House. And there was a federal corruption probe into the late Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, and the late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. The feds convicted Stevens on corruption charges related to accepting improper gifts. A court later reversed Stevens’ conviction. Investigators also looked at Young – but never charged him.
Young faced criticism for the mother-of-all-earmarks: the so-called "Bridge to Nowhere." At the time, Young chaired the House Transportation Committee. He tacked on an earmark requiring that the government spend $175 million to connect Gravina Island and Ketchikan, Alaska. The bridge was intended to replace an auto ferry. After much consternation – and a nationwide controversy – lawmakers stripped the earmark.
That’s what prompted Republicans – and then Democrats – to impose a ban on earmarks. Former President Obama even warned that he would not sign any bill which included earmarks.
So, there was a moratorium on such set-aside programs. But Democrats ended the freeze in 2021. Republicans then enthusiastically joined.
And so earmarks are back in full force.
About $1 million for a coffee shop and greenhouse for refugees in Minnesota. Another million bucks designated for organic dairy farmers in San Francisco. And $3.5 million for a new headquarters where they build floats for the annual Thanksgiving Day parade in Detroit.
Sen. John Fetterman speaks to reporters before a Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 12, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
And some earmarks even outlast the members who authored them. Even a dead or former lawmaker can score an earmark. Even 112 earmarks. Such was the case with late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. Feinstein passed away late last September, one day before Congress was supposed to have spending measures approved for this fiscal year. But here we are in mid-March still wrestling with appropriations. So earmarks live on. Feinstein submitted those requests last year – sometimes alongside Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., or Reps. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., or Jim Costa, R-Calif. This isn’t a new phenomena.
Among Feinstein’s earmark requests: money for a Chinese railroad worker history center and a fire truck for a county in northern California.
But Feinstein isn’t the only one. Former Reps. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., and Bill Johnson, R-Ohio, resigned from Congress earlier this year. Both received earmarks – even though they left. For instance, Higgins marshaled money for a radio project with the Niagara Country, New York, Sheriff’s Department and for wind tests at the State University of New York-Amherst. Johnson also received money for sewer and water projects in Youngstown and Steubenville, Ohio.
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The minibus spending bill covered six of the 12 individual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2024. But that measure only handled one-third of all "discretionary" federal spending. The remainder comes in another, massive six-bill tranche due at the end of next week. That accounts for two-thirds of all "discretionary" spending.
So guess how many earmarks might wind up in that one.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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