Rep. Jeff Flake: Earmarked Men (Earmarking Has Become the Currency of Corruption)

New York Times ^ | February 9, 2006 | Representative Jeff Flake

[RWR8189]

BACK on the F-Bar Ranch, when I was too young to load the chute, de-horn, vaccinate, hold a hot iron or otherwise make myself useful as my father and older brothers branded calves, I would spend my time collecting "earmarks" — V-shaped pieces of a calf's left ear detached with two swift strokes of a pocketknife. I would stack these earmarks on the fence surrounding the corral as an unofficial tally of our progress.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here I am in Congress, again being asked to collect earmarks. Sorry. I've had enough of that.

Earmarking — in which members of Congress secure federal dollars for pork-barrel projects by covertly attaching them to huge spending bills — has become the currency of corruption in Congress. It is not just the rising number of earmarks (more than 15,000 last year — up from around 1,200 a decade ago), or the dollar amount ($27 billion) that is troubling. More disturbing is that earmarks are used as inducements to get members to sign on to large spending measures. (The disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff was astute when he referred to the House Appropriations Committee as an "earmark favor factory.")

It is no coincidence that the growth of earmarks has paralleled the monstrous increase in overall federal spending. And President Bush's new $2.77 trillion budget will only set off another frenzy.

When I was first elected, I had visions of participating in the great debates of our time: How can we give the federal government the tools it needs to identify and root out our enemies while maintaining a free society? What tax and trade policies lend themselves to survival and prosperity in a global economy? How do we assert our influence abroad in a manner that enhances

[ClaireSolt]

I don't understand why most of this is not unconstitutional. I reviewed the earmarks in the transportation bill, looking for a local project. Most of what I saw had no federal component whatsoever. I did not find the fed highway project I was looking for but I did find a million for Main Street beautification here. It will, in no way, affect my vote. Cut our taxes and let us fund bike paths, parking garages, and palm trees on Main street locally.

[KarlInOhio]

There is a pretty easy way to start fixing this. Eliminate anonymous changes to bills. No longer would Congress be able to exlaim "I have no idea how that got there." The entire change record of a bill should be posted on the internet. I should be able to click on any word in that bill and see which representative or senator put in that word. I should also be able to track the entire history of the bill, so if I want to see changes made between 2/1 and 2/5 I'll be able to. Word processors have been doing this for quite a while, so it is not a matter of technology - only of the desire of Congress not to leave fingerprints of their actions.

[upchuck]

BUMP to what you wrote. I agree completely.