Earmarks Are Never A Winning Political Strategy


credit: Flickr

House Republicans think they’ve fixed the problem with pork-barrel spending, but they’re just making things worse, writes Chris Jacobs in the National Review.

Case in point: Just last month, Rep.

Tom Cole, the newly installed chair of the House Appropriations Committee, issued new guidelines banning nonprofits from getting community project funding.

Nonprofits, he argued, “are unobjectionable, some of them create political problems for people.” But “earmarks don’t have to come from nonprofit organizations to cause ‘political problems.’ Unfortunately, the infamous ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ in Alaska that sparked widespread outrage didn’t come from a nonprofit organization, yet it caused ‘political problems’ due to its wasteful nature.” Democratic Rep.

Rosa DeLauro, who chairs the House Appropriations panel, disagreed.

“It’s religious organizations, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, veterans organizations, work force training, senior housing,” she said.

“One can easily envision a scenario whereby the new restrictions prevent a member from requesting funds for a worthy organization in his district, yet that member still has to defend supporting questionable actions (e.g., fetish parties) associated with a project in another member’s district.” Click here for Jacobs’

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