Omnibus Earmarks: Deeper Dive to $16 Billion

The more than 4,000-page $1.7 TILLION “omnibus” President Joe Biden pledged to sign the government funding bill. It includes $16 billion for pet projects. “earmarks” This is a movement that supporters consider a way for legislators to better serve their constituents, but which detractors frequently view as corrupt and wasteful. “pork.”

Earmarks refer to provisions in legislation that provide funds for specific programs or projects, usually for the benefit of a locality or group.

The omnibus appropriations bill’s 7,200-plus earmarks, formally known as Community Project Funding items, include $750,000 for Gender Non-Conforming Housing in New York (pdf), $1 million for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Ohio (pdf$3.6 million to support a Michelle Obama Trail in Georgiapdf$5 million) for a Washington state salmon reintroduction effort (pdf).

The $1.7 trillion bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 68–29, with the support of 18 of the 50 Senate Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

It was supported by only nine of the 213 House Republicans. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R.Calif.), the GOP House leader, strongly opposed the bill and called it “passage”. “one of the most shameful acts” He had never seen Congress before.

Biden hailed the omnibus bill’s passage in a post on TwitterCall it “great news for our economy, capping off a year of historic bipartisan progress for the American people.”

“This bill is proof that Republicans and Democrats can come together to deliver for families. I’m ready to sign it into law,” The president added.

Debate Over Earmarks

There is ongoing debate about the use of earmarks in legislative decision-making, with some arguing they’re an effective way to fund local projects, especially when those projects might not get funded through the normal appropriations process.

“Congressionally-directed spending is just another way I can make sure Washington state communities are heard in the other Washington—whether it’s securing direct funding for salmon recovery, affordable housing, or local infrastructure needs,” Senator Patty Murray (D. Wash.), second-ranking Democrat on Senate Appropriations Committee secured over $230 Million in earmark funds to her state. said in a statement.

Others claim that earmarks are used to benefit certain interests, or to steer funding away from projects that may not need or be particularly worthy.

“Earmarks, also referred to as pork-barrel spending or the currency of corruption … have a history of waste and abuse,” Romina Buccia, director for budget and entitlement policy, Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank, wrote in a recent analysis What she called “a wonderful experience” “monstrous” omnibus appropriations package.

“Congress should ban earmarks and focus time and energy on fixing the federal government’s unsustainable spending trajectory instead,” She added.

After a decade-long ban on Community Project Funding, Democrats have relaunched it ahead of fiscal 2022. The fund saw $9.7B in earmarks from both parties.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) introduced an amendment earlier this year to ban earmarks, but House Republicans voted 52–158 against it.

The earmarks in this year’s omnibus amount to slightly less than 1 percent of the roughly $1.7 trillion funding package, a cap Congress imposed when reviving the earmarking process following its longtime ban.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who offered an amendment to the omnibus bill that would have erased more than 4,000 earmarks, called the Community Project Funding requests a “gateway drug to the massive deficit spending, to the mortgaging of our children’s futures. It has to stop.”

The omnibus bill was passed with some Republican support. It contains funding for Ukraine at $45 billion and funding for border protection in Egypt and Tunisia at hundreds of millions.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) said on Friday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story” The nine House Republicans that voted in favor of the Omnibus Bill were not Republicans. “taking the pork and running” They are most likely retiring.

“If you went through this bill—and I tried, it was 4,100 pages, we tried to do what we could in terms of going through it—you found a lot of wasteful programs, more money being sent to international organizations, more money being sent to umbrellas under the United Nations, more money being spent overseas for all sorts of purposes in other countries while we have American families struggling here at home,” She said.

“It is unfortunate, because I don’t believe that this is in the best interests of the American people,” Malliotakis said that it was important to focus on spending reductions rather than funding pet projects.

Strangely, $3 billion in earmarks was given to legislators who voted against the Omnibus Spending Package, almost all of which were Republican. according to Roll Call tally

Earmark Details

The omnibus earmarks were distributed There are 12 agencies involved, and some of the most important or larger-ticket funding requests came from the following.

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agenciespdf): $7 million for a cereal disease lab in Minneapolis, Minnesota; $4 million each for a sugarcane research unit in Schriever, Louisiana, an agricultural animal genetic engineering centre in Columbia, Missouri, and a waterway conservation project in Twin Falls, Idaho; $2.95 million to address “climate challenges” New York City water quality and agriculture, and $1.5million for a “climate resilient” Prairie View, Texas agricultural research program

Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agenciespdf): $17.4 million for a bioscience research facility in Orangeburg, South Carolina; $16.6 million for a workforce development and outreach centre in Scranton, Pennsylvania; $12.3 million for an innovation and education wing at a lab in East Boothbay, Maine; $3 million  for an internet of things (IOT) lab in Rome, New York; and $2 million for a climate change impact on water centre in Texas.

Defensepdf): $8 million for battery magazines in defence applications in Miami, Florida; $5.7 million for soldier performance and readiness in Statesboro, Georgia; and $1.3 million for a Central American open source research initiative in Miami, Florida.

Energy and Water Development, and Related Agenciespdf): $9.6 million for environmental infrastructure for a U.S. Army Corps facility in New Mexico; $2 million for a water facilities hydroelectric and solar project in Tampa, Florida; $459,000 for a solar panel installation at a YMCA in Nashua, New Hampshire; and $328,000 for an energy efficiency and decarbonization project in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Financial Services and General Government (pdf): $7.5 million for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia; $6 million for an archive of Alaskan leaders at the Alaska Community Foundation in Anchorage, Alaska; $5 million for a drug-use reduction program in Oxford, Mississippi; $1.66 million for a substance prevention centre in Huntington, West Virginia; and $1 million for exploring cultural linkages between black Marylanders and civil rights movements in other countries in Annapolis, Maryland.

Homeland Securitypdf): $4.2 million for stormwater and sanitary sewer improvements in Beckley, West Virginia; $2.3 million for a levee upgrade in Mayfield, Pennsylvania; $3.5 million for a city dock “resilience and revitalization” Annapolis, Maryland project; $2 million to a “climate resiliency” Revere, Massachusetts – Project

Interior, Environment, and Related Agency (pdf): $3 million for an Alaska Native Justice Center in Anchorage, Alaska; $2.5 million for a community winter access trails pilot program in North Slope Borough, Alaska; $1.3 million for a “climate resiliency” project in Medway, Massachusetts; $1.2 million for the Cascade–Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon; and $575,000 for a mobile buffalo meat processing unit in New Mexico.

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agenciespdf): $2 million for “green job” workforce development and equipment in Collegeville, Pennsylvania; $1 million for career skills and job counselling at a women’s centre in Kew Gardens, New York; and around $3 million for a half dozen LGBT-related projects and programs, including $500,000 for LGBTQ youth and family services in Lake Worth Beach, Florida.

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agenciespdf): $99 million for a physical fitness centre annex at Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska; $82.2 million for recruit barracks in San Diego, California; $68.1 million for aircraft airfield pavement improvements on Whidbey Island, Washington; and around $100 million for a half dozen child development centres, including $32.1 million for one in Camp Pendleton, California.

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agenciespdf): $3.75 million for renovation of a YMCA facility in Chicago, Illinois; $2 million for a wax museum on prominent black Americans in Baltimore, Maryland; $1.5 million for an LGBTQ community services centre in White Plains, New York; and $750,000 for transitional housing and services for LGBT and “gender non-conforming” Albany, New York

In her analysis of the 4,155-page omnibus legislative text, which is accompanied by another 2,670 pages of explanatory documents, the Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia said that most members of Congress wouldn’t have time to read it before voting.

“And that’s intentional,” She claimed that the “current legislative process does not intend for members of Congress to carefully deliberate policy decisions” This would cause more opposition.

“Instead of rushing this bill through this week, Congress should punt [defer] on appropriations until 2023. Members should instead take time over the Christmas holiday to deeply reflect on their responsibilities and return refreshed in the new year with a strong fiscal agenda that would put the U.S. budget on a sustainable path and avert a future fiscal crisis.”

The members of Congress voted to approve the Omnibus and its Earmarks. This seems to have been a missed opportunity for deeper reflection. But, it remains open to debate whether or not there will be a Community Project Funding ban in the future.

 

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