Big Coalition of Anti-Earmark Advocacy Groups Warn Congress Against Return to ‘Business-as-Usual’

Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on April 12, 2018. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

A coalition of 18 conservative non-profit advocacy groups that oppose the return of earmarks to congressional spending issued a letter Feb. 22 to all 535 senators and representatives warning them that taxpayers “want an end to business-as-usual.”

The coalition’s warning refers to plans of Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to restore the practice under a new title of “Member-directed spending.”