The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation on Wednesday to fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year, but in doing so, engaged in one of the sleaziest lawmaking traditions: earmarks.
The bill that passed the House with broad bipartisan support contained more than 6,000 earmarks totaling $12 billion in pet projects that lawmakers can tout to their home districts and states as tangible legislative successes.
But these earmarks are not just funding for necessary infrastructure projects and government programs that are essential to the nation’s function. A review of some of the most egregious earmarks betrays a cabal of lawmakers using the process to fund absurd projects and programs at often exorbitant rates.
Take Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who secured a $4 million earmark for improvements to the sewer system in Pelican, Alaska, a remote coastal town with a population of less than 100 people. She also secured similar earmarks for the borough of Haines and the city of Kiana.
In Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who is up for reelection, secured a $1.4 million earmark for a solar power system for the village of Viola. The village has a population of 700 people and, given Wisconsin’s northern location, does not get as much sunlight during the year as Texas, Arizona, or New Mexico.
The most absurd earmark was arguably from Sens. Bob Casey (D-PA) and John Fetterman (D-PA), who tried to funnel $1 million in taxpayer funds to renovate the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia.
The allocation drew the attention of LibsOfTikTok, which resulted in Casey and Fetterman withdrawing the earmark request and it being stripped from the bill. But afterward, Fetterman claimed his staff had made the decision to withdraw the earmark without his awareness.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I wasn’t part of that decision. It wasn’t my personal decision to do that,” he said, according to Politico. “I never realized that the LibsofTikTok should determine our priorities and what we’re going to support.”
With the House of Representatives under Republican control, there is no reason the sleazy tradition of earmarks in Washington should have continued. But a handful of Republicans joined with Democrats to keep the practice alive. The only losers are the taxpayers who have to watch the government waste their funds on politically expedient projects.
