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John:
Good Morning from Capitol Hill.
The House and Senate continue their three week long sprint to Christmas break this week. The Senate continues to process nominations while the House of Representatives begins to churn through the annual defense authorization bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or the NDAA.
Until recently, the year end spending palooza was well worn and would go something like this. Through summer, Congress would make an attempt at passing annual appropriations bills. They would usually leave for the August recess without having finished passing all 12 appropriations bills. They would come back to Washington after the August recess with fresh enthusiasm, only to lose steam and pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) shortly before the somehow unforeseen September 30 funding deadline. That CR would usually extend current funding to the middle of November, with the hopes of using that additional time to “finish the hard work” of the appropriations bills.
Congress would fall short of that lofty goal, again, and pass a CR that would expire right before Christmas. This deadline would be used to fabricate a narrative of needing to “clear out the barn” or “clear the decks”, which would mean wrapping all of the outstanding legislative “priorities” into a giant 3,000+ page Omnibus Appropriations bill, and jamming it through at the last minute. Prior to 2011 and after 2021, earmarks were a prominent feature of these bloated and wasteful spending bills, despite having been directly responsible for sending Members of Congress to jail.
The infamous cases of former Representatives Duke Cunningham, Chaka Fattah, and Peter Visclosky, were emblematic of the type of corruption possible with earmarks. Due to the wastefulness and, oftentimes, corrupt actions surrounding them, they were banned in 2011 after CPI Chairman and former Senator Jim DeMint led the charge.
After a brief hiatus, the House revived earmarks under the Orwellian term, “Community Project Funding” starting with the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations cycle. Under the new rules, greater disclosure and insight into the funding was made mandatory as an explicit acknowledgement of their corrupt history. The Congressional Research Service (CRS), which serves as a research institution for Congress, noted that in FY23 spending, Congress provided $15.3 billion for 7,234 projects which were administered by 19 federal agencies.
Zoom into the present day and there are still major issues with the concentrated benefit of Members of Congress personally directing federal taxpayers dollars. Take for example the case of former Representative and now Senator Adam Schiff who was securing earmarks for defense contractors as a member of Congress while he was taking campaign checks as a political candidate. Or the most recent accusation from the Office of Congressional Ethics about Representative Cherfilus-McCormick stealing pandemic funds to enrich herself and her campaign.
In the Senate, conservatives are raising concerns over earmarks that have polluted the current spending package. Conservative Senator Mike Lee posted on X, “Who are these mysterious, unnamed Republican senators who are “fuming” over Republican objections to $5 billion in earmarks, many of which fund radical, left-wing causes? I wish they were mad about that. Instead, they’re “fuming” that not all Republicans are on board.”
The Daily Caller reports that “The earmarks in the package include $1 million appropriated to renovate the elevators at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City, $7 million for a bike path in Hawaii and another $1 million subsidizing California’s embattled rail system.” The report continues, “A nonprofit serving Latin American youth that offers “LGBTQ+ ally workshops” in schools and government agencies is also slated to receive $1.5 million following an earmark request from Democratic Maryland Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen.”
Time will tell whether the left wing projects funded by many of these earmarks will become too much for the package of Republican appropriations bills to move forward.
ICYMI…
Sincerely,
Hugh Fike
Senior Director, CP Academy
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