An earmark is a direction from Congress to the Executive Branch that specifies or designates how federal funds should be spent. Earmarks in the annual appropriations bills are not additional spending — rather, they are a way for Congress to control how the money is used. The United States Constitution clearly places the responsibility to spend the public’s money in the hands of Congress, not in the hands of the President or federal bureaucracies — which is who would spend it otherwise.
Just sayin’...