WASHINGTON--Democrats in the House of Representatives moved on Wednesday to limit the ability of lawmakers to tuck pet projects into spending bills amid mounting election-year ethics concerns.
Top Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee said the new rules prohibit lawmakers from steering money to for-profit companies through the earmarking process, as Democrats seek to tamp down concerns over ethical violations and wasteful spending.
The decision will affect billions of dollars in federal spending on everything from day-care providers to battlefield weapons, but will not affect the lion's share of earmarks projects, which go to non-profits or local governments. "It's a positive step forward," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Earmarks have figured in several scandals over the past decade as lawmakers were found to have directed funds to businesses that showered them with gifts. Public outrage over the scandals helped Democrats win control of Congress in 2006, but they now face several ethics scandals of their own and Republicans are poised for major gains in the November congressional elections.
House Republicans are weighing a voluntary ban on all earmarks, which would go beyond the ban announced by Democrats on the Appropriations Committee. The ban does not apply in the Senate, where Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, a Democrat, has been an ardent defender of earmarks. An Inouye spokesman declined immediate comment.
Earmarks account for $15.9 billion of federal spending in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, less than 1 percent of the federal budget that Congress controls directly. They help build support for the 12 spending bills that must pass each year to keep the government running, and lawmakers say they are a legitimate way to ensure that Congress has a say in how the government spends that money.
Defenders also say that earmarks give smaller businesses a chance to win lucrative military contracts. Nearly half of last year's earmark dollars were included in the Pentagon's spending bill. To address those concerns, the Appropriations Committee said it would set up a special process to allow small businesses to pitch the Pentagon directly.
