EarMark

Projects specifically financed by laws passed by the US Congress, rather than leaving allocations up to administrative agencies.

Often relates to Pork Barrel decisions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earmarking

  • After gaining control of the House in 2011 (following the 2010 elections), Republicans adopted a House earmark ban. This was controversial within the House Republican Conference, which had internal debates several times over whether to partially lift the ban.[23][24][25][26] The earmark ban is contained in the House Republicans' intraparty rules (not the House rules).[27]
  • President Obama promised during his State of the Union address in January 2011 to veto any bill that contained earmarks. In February 2011, Congress "imposed a temporary ban on earmarks, money for projects that individual lawmakers slip into major Congressional budget bills to cater to local demands."[28]
  • In December 2015, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), claimed in their 2016 Congressional Pig Book,[29] that all the FY2016 earmarks were contained in the December 2016 omnibus 2000-page Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 which authorized $1.15 trillion in appropriations.[30] The CAGW argued that "Throwing all earmarks into one large bill makes it more difficult to identify and eliminate earmarks than if Congress adhered to regular order and considered the 12 appropriations bills individually."

OMB database http://earmarks.omb.gov/

Tom Coburn blog http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=EarmarkToolkit.Home

Sunlight Foundation


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