Today, Congressional Republicans are wrapping up their policy retreat in Hershey, Pa. While the event undoubtedly included a number of spirited conversations about divisive issues such as immigration reform and the appropriate tactics to repeal Obamacare, one issue that should entertain no debate amongst conservatives is earmarks.
Congress wisely passed a moratorium on earmarks back in 2010 and despite a few efforts to loosen the ban, it has remained firmly in place to date. That’s not to say some clever politicians haven’t found ways to skirt the rules and sneak spending into bills. Based on their definition of the term, our friends at Taxpayers Protection Alliance found about $7 billion worth of earmarks in the 2015 Defense Appropriations bill.
Nevertheless, taxpayers are far better off today than they were just a few years ago when Congress was wasting money on projects like the “Bridge to Nowhere” in Alaska and an indoor rainforest in Iowa. If Congress wants to have any modicum of credibility on matters of fiscal discipline, it is imperative that lawmakers maintain the ban on earmarks and prohibit the funding of these types of ridiculously wasteful projects.
Additionally, to ensure that the earmark ban is strong and enforceable, it must be well-defined. The moratorium should be applied to Member-directed projects that were not requested by the relevant federal department or agency, but not to other line-items in spending bills, such as legal settlements entered into by the federal government. Doing so would only complicate the issue and thereby weaken the ban.
Continuing to prohibit the use of earmarks is absolutely essential for taxpayers. Although earmarks never made up a very large share of overall federal spending, they were emblematic of the corruption and waste that pervades Washington. If lawmakers are to have any chance of successfully tackling larger fiscal challenges, like our imbalanced entitlement programs, they must start by upholding a well-defined ban on earmarks.