All About Earmarks
Definition of Earmark: An item that is attached to usually a
bill that directs approved funds to be spent specific projects or that directs
specific exemptions from taxes or fees.
History of Earmarks: The first use of earmarks was in 1789 in
the Light House Act. Congress passed a building stating federal funds will go
to helping build lighthouses all across the Atlantic coast. Interests groups
also have a say in these earmarks. In that Lighthouse Act being passed an
interest group in Philadelphia. Another example of an earmark was in the Bonus
Bill in 1817. Senator John C. Calhoun put in the bill that money should
allocated for public works projects. Earmarks have been used for over 200
years. To show the significance in earmarks from 1994 to 2005 the spending in
ear marks increased from $218 million to $500 million. That just shows the
amount of earmarks there has been.
Benefits of Earmarks, Why are they used so much: There’s is a number of reason of why earmarks are use. The biggest reason
of all is that it stops gridlock. It does that by getting the opposition to
vote for a bill that may be not in their party's favor. This happening has
allowed Congress to get work done and agree upon things. Another way it may
help is that a Congressmen could go back to his home district or state and be
like look what I have done for our district or state and this can help them get
re-elected. This keeps the wheels on Congress churning.
What are Earmarks today: As far as earmarks today go earmarks are dead. Congress has banned the
use Earmarks in 2007. Also President Obama has said in his State of the Union
Address that he will veto any bill with an earmark attached to it.
Conclusion on Earmarks: The congress today has the highest
disapproval rate than ever before. The reason behind that is because they never
get anything done. Congress is always battling over bills and end up in
gridlock. The reason behind this is because why would a Congressmen vote in
favor of the opposition party bill if he has no benefit to him/her. Earmarks
solved that problem, it kept congress going. Now Congress is just being
stopped every other bill and can't get anything done. Ridding bills of earmarks
seemed like a great idea but now in plain sight, that decision does not look so
good. Earmarks should be brought back to Congress just with regulation so they don’t
get out of hand.
(little more information on earmarks)
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