From the article:
“But although the libertarian-leaning Republican from Lake Jackson cast a vote against the massive spending measure, his fingerprints were on some of the earmarks that helped inflate its cost.”
Once again, the amount of the massive spending measure was already decided. Deciding where the money is spent does not inflate it’s cost, as claimed in the article.
Yes it does because it is part of contribution to the baseline.. anyone who has ever worked government contracts knows exactly about this. You are always ‘encouraged’ (or required) to meet or exceed all budgets with actual expenses because if it isn’t spent, the following years’ budget is reduced by what isn’t spent. On the contrary, if the budget is exceeded, it increases the budget by that amount next year. Yes, it already may have been budgeted, but if it isn’t spent, it reduces the baseline of the budget. IE, requesting it and spending it increases the long term federal budget. If it goes unspent, it reduces the baseline.