It has been suggested that some sections of this article be split into a new article entitled Earmark (USA). (Discuss)

An earmark has different meanings in the fields of public finance and US politics. The term dates to the 16th century, originally referring to cuts or marks in the ears of cattle and sheep made as a mark of ownership. Image File history File links Splitsection. ... Public finance (government finance) is the field of economics that deals with budgeting the revenues and expenditures of a public sector entity, usually government. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      Politics of the United States of America takes place in a framework of a presidential...

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Earmarks in public finance

In public finance, an earmark is a requirement that all or a portion of a certain source of revenue (such as a tax) must be devoted towards spending on a specific public expenditure. Earmarking bypasses the normal procedure where tax revenue is pooled in a general fund which is then distributed among separate spending programs. A tax is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (for example, tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). ... Government spending consists of government purchases, including transfer payments, which can be financed by seigniorage (the creation of money for government funding), taxes, or government borrowing. ...

For example, in the United Kingdom a tax on television licences is directly allocated to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). This article is an overview article about the Crown chartered British Broadcasting Corporation formed in 1927. ...

Governments are often fond of earmarking, while public finance experts often criticize earmarking since it provides an avenue for corruption including kickbacks and because it reduces the discretion and flexibility of the government, which may lead to a loss in economic efficiency. Public finance (government finance) is the field of economics that deals with budgeting the revenues and expenditures of a public sector entity, usually government. ... World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Blue colors indicate little corruption, red colors indicate much corruption In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate... Economic efficiency is a general term for the value assigned to a situation by some measure designed to capture the amount of waste or friction or other undesirable economic features present. ...

Earmarks in US spending legislation

In the United States legislative appropriations process, Congress has, within the powers granted under Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution, the power to direct the appropriations of money drawn from the treasury. This includes the power to earmark funds it appropriates (in other words, "to designate revenue") to be spent on specific named projects. The earmarking process is a regular part of the process of allocating funds within the federal government. Each of the appropriations subcommittees have their own practices for determining whether and what kind of projects they are willing to earmark, and each sets rules for how earmark requests are to be received from members, including setting deadlines and required format for submissions. Type Bicameral Houses Senate House of Representatives United States Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D since January 4, 2007 Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D since January 4, 2007 Members 535 plus 4 Delegates and 1 Resident Commissioner Political groups (as of November 7, 2006 elections) Democratic Party Republican... Wikisource has original text related to this article: Constitution of the United States of America Page one of the original copy of the Constitution. ...

Allowing members of Congress to earmark funds has a variety of purposes. For the member of Congress, the earmark allows them to take credit for providing a project of interest to their constituents. Allowing earmarked projects is often a tool that Appropriations committee chairs use to ensure that they can secure and hold the votes of members of Congress to help their bill pass. An earmark directing specific projects to be funded allows agencies to bypass regulatory determinations over the matter, saving them administrative time and effort.

Earmarking differs from the broader appropriations process where Congress grants a lump sum to an agency to allocate according to the agency's legal authority, within the discretion allowed by law, according to the agency's internal budgeting process. Earmarks specifically direct the actions of federal agencies, obliging them to spend a portion of the budget on special projects as directed by Congress.

Earmarking is used for projects and spending directives large and small. The vast majority of earmarks are not controversial. However, some become controversial for their cost or the perceived frivolous nature of the project.

For example, in 2005, $223 million was earmarked by Senate Committee on Appropriations chair Ted Stevens (R-AK), to construct a bridge nicknamed the Bridge to Nowhere, to connect an Alaskan town of 8,900 to an island of 50 inhabitants (saving a short ferry ride). In the ensuing uproar the earmark was removed, but the Alaska government apparently still has the authority to spend the funds on the bridge if it so chooses. Also in 2005, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) earmarked $574 million for the state of Hawaii. Theodore Fulton Ted Stevens (born November 18, 1923) is the senior United States Senator from Alaska. ... The Gravina Island Bridge is a proposed $315 million bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects Ketchikan, Alaska (population 8,000) to developable land on Gravina Island and improve access to Ketchikan International Airport. ... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... Daniel Ken Inouye (born September 7, 1924) is a recipient of the Medal of Honor and currently serves as the senior United States Senator from Hawaiʻi. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Total earmarks for 2005: 15,000, costing $47 billion. The House Appropriations Committee receives about 35,000 individual spending requests per year. The Committee on Appropriations, or Appropriations Committee (often referred to as simply Appropriations, as in Hes on Appropriations) is a committee of the United States House of Representatives. ...

On January 5, 2007, the House of Representatives passed a rule requiring congressmen to attach their names to their earmarks and certify that they have no financial interest in the provisions. On January 16 the Senate passed a similar measure.

On January 23, 2007, President George W. Bush, during his 2007 State of the Union address, declared his desire to remove the earmarking of federal spending in future budgets and urged congress to introduce a House Vote through a redesigned Line-item veto. George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is the 43rd and current President of the United States, inaugurated on January 20, 2001. ... 2003 State of the Union address given by U.S. President George W. Bush The State of the Union Address is an annual event in which the President of the United States reports on the status of the country, normally to a joint session of the U.S. Congress (the... In government, the line-item veto is the power of an executive to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually budget appropriations, without vetoing the entire legislative package. ...

On March 16, 2007, the New York Times reported that earmarks were still present under the new congressional leadership, but due to arcane definitional rules of the House were no longer known as "earmarks".

Definitions

Congressional Research Service

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) notes that earmarks are often contained only in reports issued by House, Senate, and Judicial Appropriations Committees before formal debate begins in the House or the Senate, rather than appearing in the actual legislation itself. This makes earmarking a non-transparent process that is difficult to quantify. The CRS points out that there is no widely agreed upon definition of an earmark, and that definitions tend to vary depending on the type of bill, The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress. ...

"often reflecting procedures established over time that may differ from one appropriation bill to another. For some bills, an earmark may refer to funds set aside within an account for a specified program, project, activity, institution, or location. In others, the application may reflect a more narrow set of directives to fund individual projects, locations, or institutions."

For example, when analysing agriculture appropriations, the CRS defines an earmark as "any designation in the annual appropriations act or accompanying conference report which allocates a portion of the appropriation for a specific project, location, or institution." However, it would be misleading to apply such a definition to defense appropriations, since it is normal practice to specify projects in substantial detail. The CRS therefore applies a narrower definition of earmarks when analysing defense appropriations, that only captures projects specified with more detail than ordinary.

Office of Management and Budget

According to the CRS, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is a body within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP) which is tasked with coordinating United States Federal agencies. ...

"uses a different definition of earmarks, namely specified funds for projects, activities, or institutions not requested by the executive, or add-ons to requested funds which Congress directs for specific activities."

Citizens Against Government Waste

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) considers 'earmark' to be an ambiguous and neutral term, and prefer to define 'pork' as "a line-item in an appropriations bill that designates tax dollars for a specific purpose in circumvention of established budgetary procedures". In their 2006 edition of the Congressional Pig Book, the group identified nearly 10,000 projects that met at least one of their seven conditions:

"Not specifically authorized; Not competitively awarded; Not requested by the President; Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding; Not the subject of congressional hearings; or Serves only a local or special interest."

Examples

The CRS tracked earmarks from 1994 to 2005 in 13 categories, from Agriculture to Veterans Affairs. It did not provide a grand total of earmarks, since it applied a different definition for each category, and because of limitations in their methodology, most notably not taking into consideration earmarks contained only in reports from House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

As an example, federal appropriations for agriculture in 2005 totalled $16.8 billion, of which CRS counted at least 704 earmarks that came to $500 million, or 3% of total appropriations. These numbers are double the 1994 numbers: 313 earmarks for $219 million, or 1.5% of the total appropriations of $14.5 billion.

The New York Times reported on April 30, 2006 that $568.5 million of NASA's $16.6 billion budget for 2006 has been earmarked for "198 special interest items", up from a decade ago when only $74 million was earmarked for 6 items. This article is about the American space agency. ...

See also

• Pork barrel
• Lobbying
• Campaign finance reform
• Political corruption
• Pet project
• Line-item veto
• Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006

Pork barrel, in a literal sense, is a barrel in which pork is kept, but figuratively is a supply of money; often the source of ones livelihood. ... It has been suggested that Interest representation: Academic overview be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Campaign finance. ... World map of the Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Blue colors indicate little corruption, red colors indicate much corruption In broad terms, political corruption is the misuse by government officials of their governmental powers for illegitimate... Pet Project (Term of speech) A pet project is a task undertaken out of personal interest instead of necessity. ... In government, the line-item veto is the power of an executive to nullify or cancel specific provisions of a bill, usually budget appropriations, without vetoing the entire legislative package. ... The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (S. 2590)[1] is bill that would require the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget. ...

References

• Etymology of the word earmark, from the Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Earmarks in Appropriations Acts, January 26, 2006 memorandum by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) appropriations team
• Earmarks and Limitations in Appropriation Bills, December 7, 2004 CRS Report 98-518, by Sandy Streeter
• The Budget System and Concepts, January 2006 document by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• Congressional Pig Book, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) annual compilation of pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The group also maintains a searchable database of qualifying projects
• All About Pork: The Abuse of Earmarks and the Needed Reforms, May 3, 2006 report by Tom Finnigan, for Citizens Against Government Waste
• Lawmakers Seeking Curbs on Special Spending Requests, February 8, 2006 New York Times article by Carl Hulse
• Earmarked Men, February 9, 2006 New York Times op-ed by Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake
• Son of the Bridge to Nowhere, April 23, 2006 New York Times editorial
• NASA's Greedy Overseers, April 30, 2006 New York Times editorial quantifying 2006 NASA earmarks
• 'Nothing secret or sinister' about earmarks, April 26, 2006 Peoria Journal Star article where Senator Durbin defends earmarking
• Funding better decided by local officials, April 26, 2006 Letter to the Editor of Harrisburg, PA Patriot-News by Tim Holden defending earmarking
• Pet Projects: Was the speaker's earmark a wise investment?, July 5, 2006 Washington Post editorial
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) policy to decline funds that originate in Congressional Earmarks
• Ending Earmarks Express, initiative of Americans for Prosperity Foundation to draw attention to projects in different states that resulted from earmarks
• lid on pork, "House vote puts lid on pork platter"
• Earmark Lives, but Dares Not Speak Its Name, "NY Times Article on continued use of anonymous earmarks despite House rule limiting them"