Nightly Nuance - February 17, 2021

Hello my friends. Kelly, creator of the Pantsuit Politics Community Library, has requested a Nightly Nuance on earmarks. So here we are! 

Earmarks were banished by the Tea Party wave with the agreement of President Obama and Senate Democrats in the 112th Congress, but our new Democratic appropriations chairs say that earmarks are back! (House Republican conference rules prohibit members from seeking earmarks...we'll see.) 

You've probably heard earmarks discussed derisively as "pork," or hallmarks of waste, fraud, and abuse in government. I think it's useful to step back and ask, "what are we actually talking about?" 

We know that Congress controls spending decisions through the authorizations (we declare these programs will exist) and appropriations (take this money from the Treasury to fund them) processes. Then the Executive Branch, through all of its agencies, actually spends the money. It decides what vendors to use, what goods and services to buy, what grants to offer. All of this happens through competitive award processes and/or formula-driven approaches to ensure that it's done fairly. 

Earmarks happen when Congress decides to get in the weeds on spending. The Office of Management and Budget (an Executive Branch office) says that earmarks "curtail" the ability of the Executive Branch to control important decisions about spending. 

I try to walk through the pros and cons of earmarks as I see them in this episode. 

Cons: 

- Earmarks can be wasteful. 

- Earmarks can promote corruption (like, people going to jail levels of corruption)

- Earmarks can make Congress feel even more "what have you done for me lately?" than it does now. 

Pros: 

- Members of Congress are supposed to represent their states and districts, and earmarks allow them to tangibly do so. 

- Earmarks can motivate legislators to take votes they would otherwise avoid. 

- Earmarks represent a valid exercise of Congress's authority to spend federal money. 

Neutral 

- Transparency cuts both ways. 

- Congressional productivity is hard to tie specifically to earmarks. 

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