WASHINGTON, DC:
We congratulate the Senate Republican Conference for its vote on January 10th to keep the ban on earmarks. Sadly, some House Republicans still want to bring back earmarks in appropriations bills and thus bring back the old ways of Washington. It’s hard to think of a single practice in the political arena that better represents the “swamp” of Washington than earmarking. Earmarks are cronyism in its purest form and erode Americans’ faith in their elected officials and system of representative government. We urge the House to follow the Senate’s lead and also maintain its ban on earmarks.
Some Americans may know just how the practice works, and how bad it is: a politically connected donor to a congressman, or perhaps a local political leader on whom the congressman relies for support, requests federal taxpayer money for a particular project in the congressman’s district. The congressman then makes the earmark request, not because he has explored all other projects in the nation and concluded that the one in his district is miraculously the worthiest, but primarily because it will bring political benefit to him and those people or groups who support (or could potentially support) him, both financially and electorally.
Most commonly, earmark requests are granted based on political seniority and/or electoral vulnerability, rather than on any degree of merit. It’s an unscrupulous practice, and Congress was right to stop it. In fact, Vice-President-Elect Pence was instrumental in stopping earmarks during his time in Congress.
Earmarks are often used to “grease the skids” for higher federal spending. That is, the Appropriations Committees and the leaders in both houses of Congress insert earmarks into big-spending bills in order to entice particular Members of Congress to vote for bills they might otherwise not vote for. The leaders deliberately put Members into the difficult position of choosing between fiscal responsibility and special projects for their constituents. Furthermore, and worse, many earmarks are for wasteful or unconstitutional projects, e.g., local matters that should not receive federal taxpayer dollars at all. For example, federal taxpayers in Indiana should not have to pay for the repair of a local one-lane overpass in California, nor should federal taxpayers in North Carolina have to pay for bike-path beautification in New Mexico.
The use of all taxpayer funds should be considered on the merits through regular order, first through congressional authorizing committees in open sessions, then through congressional appropriations committees in open sessions, and then on the floors of both houses of Congress with significant advance public notice and the ability to amend or eliminate any such spending. And once such spending is enacted, Congress should conduct rigorous oversight to ensure that there is no improper use of the funds. Congress has much to do if it is to regain control over the wasteful spending by executive branch agencies, and that should be its primary goal, rather than self-serving, politically directed spending of the American taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
We suggest the following steps for the House of Representatives to stop a return to congressional earmarking:
- No Special Meeting. Press reports indicate that House Republicans intend to hold a special meeting by March of this year to discuss how earmarks could be “reformed” and thus returned to practice. House Republican Leadership should call off this meeting and declare that the earmark ban will remain in force.
- Accept a Transparency Challenge. Even the Members of Congress who want to bring back earmarks know that the issue is politically risky. That is why the meetings to discuss bringing them back have been secret and why the planned future meeting will be secret. If House Republicans feel they must proceed with their special meeting on earmarks, then House Republican Leadership should ensure that the meeting is publicly announced at least a week in advance and is covered live on TV and Internet video stream. In fact, House Republicans should hold all deliberations about a return to earmarking in public and on TV/livestream—and cast any related votes in the same public way.
If these efforts above fail, we would then urge President Trump to veto any bill that (a) contains earmarks, (b) refers to an external list of earmarks (i.e., a list of projects not included in the legislative text), or (c) is or is expected to be accompanied by an external list of earmarks not in the legislative text.
We look forward to Conservative-Movement-wide collaboration on this important matter.
| The Honorable Edwin Meese III Former Attorney General President Ronald Reagan |
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop Chairman, Conservative Action Project Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan |
| David Bozell President ForAmerica |
Cleta Mitchell, Esq. Conservative Attorney |
| The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr. Former Domestic Advisor President Ronald Reagan |
Erick Erickson Editor The Resurgent |
| Diana Banister President and Partner Shirley & Banister Public Affairs |
Alfred S. Regnery Chairman Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund |
| Michael A. Needham Chief Executive Officer Heritage Action for America |
The Honorable Mike Spence Founding President Conservative Republicans of California |
| Haley Martin President The Martin Foundation |
Jack Park Conservative Activist and Donor |
| Tim LeFever Chairman of the Board Capitol Resource Institute |
Bishop E.W. Jackson President STAND Action, Inc. |
| Adam Brandon President FreedomWorks |
Susan A. Carleson Chairman and CEO American Civil Rights Union |
| L. Brent Bozell President Media Research Center |
Allen J. Hebert Chairman American-Chinese Fellowship |
| Richard H. Wright Retired |
Ren Broekhuizen Conservative Activist and Donor |
| Elsa Prince Broekhuizen Chairman EDP Management Company, LLC |
The Honorable James C. Miller III Former Director of OMB President Ronald Reagan |
| Willes K. Lee President, National Federation of Republican Assemblies |
Lee A. Beaman Chief Executive Officer Beaman Automotive |
| Joseph R. Gregory Chairman and CEO Gregory Management Co. |
James N. Clymer, Esq. Clymer Conrad, P.C. |
| Joseph A. Morris Morris & De La Rosa |
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D The Crouse Institute |
| Lou Cordia Cordia and Associates |
Craig Shirley Reagan biographer Presidential historian |
| Andresen Blom Executive Director Grassroot Hawaii Action, Inc. |
Thomas A. Schatz President Citizens Against Government Waste |
| The Honorable Donald J. Devine Former Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management under Ronald Reagan and Senior Scholar, The Fund for American Studies |
Rick Manning President Americans for Limited Government |
| C. Preston Noell III President Tradition, Fammily, Property, Inc. |
Tricia Erickson President Angel Pictures & Publicity, Inc. |
| Floyd Brown Chairman Western Center for Journalism |
James L. Martin Chairman 60 Plus Association |
| Kay R. Daly President Coalition for a Fair Judiciary |
Linwood Bragan Executive Director CapStand Council for Policy & Ethics |
| Matt Mackowiak Executive Director Fight For Tomorrow |
Rebecca Hagelin Board of Directors, FamilyTalk Secretary, Council for National Policy |
| Judson Phillips Founder Tea Party Nation |
Neil Siefring Vice President Hilltop Advocacy, LLC |
| J.T. Mastranadi Vice President for Governmental Affairs Citizens United |
The Honorable Mike Hill Former Member Florida State Representative |
| John C. Bradburne Principal Bradburne Consulting, LLC |
Todd W. Herrick Taxpayer |
| Bob Adams President Revive America PAC |
Randy M. Long, JD, CFP®, CExP™ Long Business Advisors, LLC |
| Mark Fitzgibbons President of Corporate Affairs American Target Advertising |
Belden Bell Co-Chair Heritage Legacy Society |
| Terrence M. Scanlon Retired President Capital Research Center |
Peter J. Thomas Chairman Americans for Constitutional Liberty |
| Quin Hillyer Veteran conservative columnist |
David McIntosh President Club for Growth |
| Robert K. Fischer Meeting Coordinator Conservatives of Faith |
David Williams President Taxpayers Protection Alliance |
| Melissa Ortiz Founder & Principal Able Americans |
Jenny Beth Martin Co-Founder Tea Party Patriots |
| William W. Pascoe, III Partner Antietam Communications |
Ted Baehr Publisher Movieguide(r) |
| Trent England David & Ann Brown Distinguished Fellow Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs |
Grover Norquist President Americans for Tax Reform |
| Gary L. Bauer President American Values |
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli President, Senate Conservatives Fund Former Attorney General of Virginia |
| Herman Cain C.E.O. www.hermancain.com |
Kevin Freeman NSCI Institute |
| Eli Lehrer President R Street |
Russell Ramsland Founder Park Cities/Preston Hollow Leadership Forum |
| Col Francis X. De Luca USMCR (Ret) President Civitas Institute |
Ellen Grigsby Director of Institutional Partnerships Open Doors USA |
| Dr. Randy Brinson President Optimum Impact, LLC |
Dr. James C. Dobson Founder & President Dr. James Dobson’s FamilyTalk |
| Pete Sepp President, National Taxpayers Union & NTU Foundation |
Reverend Ren Broekhuizen Retired Pastor |
| Brian Baker President Ending Spending |
Samuel B. Casey Treasurer Liberty T |
| Alan Gottlieb President Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise |
Michael J. Bowen CEO Coalition For a Strong America |
| Jim Backlin Vice President of Legislative Affairs Christian Coalition of America |
|
(All organizations listed for IDENTIFICATION purposes only)
