WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 12: U.S. Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R) speaks as … [+] President Joe Biden (L) listens during an event on the American Rescue Plan in the Rose Garden of the White House on March 12, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act into law that will send aid to millions of Americans struggling from the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Getty Images Congressional earmarks are back. The Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives will allow up to $13 billion in earmarks on House appropriations bills, 10 per member, for a total of up to 4,350 earmarks for fiscal year 2022. House Republicans released a statement arguing that earmarks are a pathway to congressional corruption. One member of the caucus, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), argued that earmarks are “little more than legislative bribery.” The late Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) frequently called earmarks “the gateway drug” to corruption and overspending, and spearheaded the 2011 ban. Even President Barack Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union speech, said he would veto any bill containing earmarks, saying “… the American people deserve to know that special interests aren’t larding up legislation with pet projects, both parties in Congress should know this: If a bill comes to my desk with earmarks inside, I will veto it. I will veto it.” At the height of earmarking in 2005, Congress passed 15,000 Congressional earmarks, at a cost of $29… Click below to read the full story from Forbes
Read More
U.S. House Democrats Propose 4,350 Earmarks A Year Costing $13 Billion
