Senate Conservatives Blast $12.7 Billion of Earmarks in Emergency Spending Package

Republican lawmakers are pressing congressional leaders to allow amendments against controversial special interest provisions.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) speaks about the war in Afghanistan during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 6, 2014. Mark Wilson/Getty Images

All members of the Senate should have an opportunity to vote for or against earmarks contained in the Minibus emergency spending bill, such as one that would provide $2.5 million for kayaking and snowboarding experiences for residents of a small town in New Hampshire, four Republican lawmakers say.

“We’ve got 650 pages of nothing but earmarks in this bill and you’ve got over 6,000 separate earmarks. Look, I am sure that some of them are for good things that will benefit good people, and I am sure that some of them satisfy at least part of that [standard] but they aren’t necessarily the prerogative of the federal government,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) told reporters during a March 6 news conference in the U.S. Capitol.

“The purpose here is not to adjudicate each and every project and whether it should be funded by someone, but rather should it be funded by government, and in particular this government. If it should be funded by this government, why not subject it to negotiations, debate, and discussions.”

“Why not have that debate process in the light of day rather than foisting this on the American people at the 11th hour just a matter of days before it’s to be voted on, and then we are told, ‘Oh, by the way, you can’t really change this unless it’s something we want to change,’” he said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made the spending package public on March 3, saying that the Senate and House both had to vote it up or down without any amendments. In fact, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) had a provision removed on March 5 that would have sent $1 million to a “GayWay” facility in Philadelphia that hosts a monthly gathering of individuals engaging in sex acts.

The 6,000 earmarks—worth at least $12.7 billion—are attached to the $460 billion appropriations package that funds the departments of Transportation, Veterans Affairs, Energy, Agriculture, Interior, and Housing and Urban Development, as well as independent agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration. Those federal offices will have to close at least temporarily if Congress doesn’t approve the measure and get it to President Joe Biden for his signature before midnight on March 8.

Recent History of Earmarks

Also known derisively among opponents as “pork-barrel spending,” earmarks were first targeted in the Senate in 2006 when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) dubbed them the “gateway drug for Federal Spending Addiction (FSA)” in Congress. The Oklahoma Republican’s determined opposition to wasteful spending earned him the sobriquet among his Senate colleagues of “Dr. No.”

While both chambers of Congress adopted moratoriums in 2011, earmarks reappeared in 2019 with support from leaders and members of both political parties. Conservatives in both chambers opposed the return of earmarks. Sponsors of earmarks are now made public and the measures are officially referred to as “Community Funding Projects.”

Mr. Lee alluded to Mr. Coburn’s branding of earmarks as leading to FSA when he noted that, while the $12.7 billion for earmarks is a small portion of the Minibus’ total spending of $460 billion, “the fact remains that this might not be the entire length of the train or even half or a quarter or a third, but it’s what’s driving the train. This is why we are $34 trillion and counting in debt.

“It’s because members, seeing that there is a bill that is too big, it’s too expensive, it funds too many things, are more likely to vote for something if you include what is sometimes called ’sweeteners,‘ these addicting, corrupting substances within the bill that allow you to come home to your own constituents and tell the special interests ’I brought home the bacon.'”

In addition to the $2.5 million earmark to build the recreational facilities in Franklin, New Hampshire, population 8,761, Mr. Lee also pointed to an earmark that provides $963,000 to Georgetown University, which, he noted, has an endowment of more than $3.2 billion.

Public Wants Change: Scott

The Utah Republican told reporters that he and his colleagues, including Sens. Rick Scott (R- Fla), Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), will continue to push for at least a token opportunity to offer amendments focused on the earmarks.

Mr. Marshall said he believes many of the earmarks would be withdrawn if they were subjected to separate votes by the Senate.

At one point during the news conference, Mr. Scott was asked if he thinks Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who supports earmarks, should step down now rather than after the November election, as he announced last week.

“The public wants a change. People are fed up with this. I am up for reelection this year and I do a lot of speeches around Florida and people are mad, mad about how Republicans have represented them, they are mad that Republicans have gone along with the Biden agenda, passing these omnibuses, they are mad that Republicans have not stood up to make the border secure,” he said.

“So I think the public is going to be very engaged this year to make sure we get leadership that represents Republican voters all across the country.”