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by Don Azarias
December 18, 2010
One thing we can say about those congressional lawmakers: They will fight to death just to bring in the “pork barrel” to their home state. Never mind how large the nation’s debts and deficits. And speaking of “pork barrel”, it is a derogatory term used when referring to appropriation of public funds by lawmakers. I will try to explain it in layman’s term in the later part of this article.
During a lame-duck session on Capitol Hill, the U.S. Senate, made up mostly by Democrats, voted by a nearly 3-2 margin, to let lawmakers attach those earmarks to fund home-state pet projects like roads, bridges, water treatment plants, grants to local police departments and special interest tax breaks. The legislation was virtually opposed by anti-earmark Republican senators, not for partisan, but rather for fiscal reason. Republicans believe that tough economic times require tough economic measures. I hope those free-spending Democrats will savor their victory because, come January, with anti-earmark GOPs taking their seats in both Houses, these outrageous earmarks a/k/a “pet projects” may, likely, come to an end.
Under pressure from Tea Party activists after the midterm elections, Senate Republicans passed a party resolution declaring that GOP senators would give up earmarks. House Republicans who took 63 seats away from Democrats on November 2 to become the majority in January also have given up the practice. For the sake of our nation, I’m hoping that the Republican Party really meant business this time around. But, in politics, you really don’t know about the outcome at times. Within Capitol Hill, compromise has always been part of the political equation. We also have to take into consideration those lobbyists, special interest groups and campaign financiers who will exert extraordinary pressure on those lawmakers in order to extract some concessions. And let’s not forget what role the White House will play in the earmarking issue and whether or not President Barack Obama will seek compromise with Senate Republican Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), and Incoming House Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio).
However, Boehner has made it clear that he will not allow earmark-laden bills to pass after Republicans take over the House. And McConnell, who had long been a strong supporter of earmarks, changed his stance shortly after the GOP’s big win in the midterm elections. However, we just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that those Republican political leaders in Washington will keep their words. We, American taxpayers, should know by now that politicians have a habit of making promises that they don’t keep.
With an almost solid opposition from Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, who are hell-bent on trying to save the practice of earmarking, may soon find themselves unable to defend their position. Well, isn’t it about time that they stop spending with reckless abandon money that we don’t have?
According to Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), a watchdog group that opposes the earmark practice, congressional earmarks went from more than 1,300 projects worth nearly $8 billion in 1994 to a peak of nearly 14,000 projects worth more than $27 billion in 2005. Democrats, in trying to be the first to recite, publicly, the act of contrition and in order to save face, claim that they’ve cut back the number and cost of earmarks by half. However, some analysts and other watchdog groups are disputing the authenticity of that claim.
For the readers’ information, congressional lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans have, for years, been attaching earmarks or pet projects into the federal budget and most spending bills in order to get funding for their home state. Earmarks are funds allocated in the annual federal budget by individual legislators for special projects or purposes serving only their state or local constituents, rather than all taxpayers. Earmark spending typically results in the expenditure of large sums of taxpayer money to benefit a limited number of people. It is also a way of circumventing the established federal budget process by rushing it through Congress without the full debate and scrutiny. According to budget analysts and critics, those earmarks could number into hundreds or even thousands and have mostly gone unnoticed and unchecked. Is it any wonder that the United States’ debts and deficits are deemed unsustainable by no less than the Federal Reserve chairman himself, Ben Bernanke?
Well, blame those lawmakers, especially, Democrat lawmakers.