Democratic senators rushed to cancel $1 million they had inserted into a spending bill for an LGBTQ center in Philadelphia after a viral report said the place hosted sex parties.
Sens. John Fetterman and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania asked that the money be pulled from the list of pet projects included in the overall bill, which will fund several Cabinet agencies.
It was exactly the type of embarrassment Congress hoped to avoid as it took another spin on the cash carousel known on Capitol Hill as earmarking, by which lawmakers redirect some of the usual spending to specific projects in their home states and districts.
After a decade hiatus, earmarks returned under Democratic control in 2021. This year marks the first time Republicans have control of one chamber, giving them more ownership of the process. Still, some conservatives derided the cash grab as unseemly for a party pushing for spending cuts.
“We cannot support forcing Americans to fund earmarks that waste $1 million on an ‘environmental justice center’ or $4 million on a Green New Deal police station while 60% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck because of reckless government spending,” said Ryan Walker, executive vice president at Heritage Action.
The House defied the demand and passed the $460 billion spending bill, earmarks included, on a 339-85 vote Wednesday. The bill now moves to the Senate, where passage is expected, and then to the White House for President Biden’s signature.
The bill includes money for various government programs, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, highways, food stamps, the FBI, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Smithsonian Institution.
Still to come is a bill funding the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Health and Human Services Department, among other major agencies.
Before the bungle over the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, Republican leaders pronounced themselves happy with the legislative process.
“This has been a transparent, member-driven process from the beginning to eliminate any ‘gotchas,’” said a spokesperson for House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
Government spending bills usually give agencies pools of money for certain functions and allow leeway on how the money is spent. Earmarks, known previously as “pork-barrel spending,” bypass that process and order the money to go to specific entities.
Many lawmakers consider earmarking a core function of legislating and brag about the money they direct to their constituents.
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer talked colleagues into spending $7.5 million to update sidewalks in New York’s Putnam County.
Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat, convinced Congress that his hometown of Falls Church, Virginia, needs a half-million dollars of federal money to fix a traffic light at a “blighted” intersection.
Rep. Robert Aderholt, a Republican, cajoled colleagues into dropping a cool $3.9 million into Russellville, Alabama, to build a new library with more parking and larger meeting areas.
Then there was the LGBTQ center. A prominent conservative account on X, Libs of TikTok, posted what appeared to be an advertisement for a “play party” at the center.
The senators who requested the money quickly backtracked.
“After further review, I am writing to withdraw my support,” Mr. Fetterman wrote in a letter. Mr. Casey, the state’s other Democratic senator, also called for its removal after championing its inclusion.
The project was removed from the list of approved earmarks by Wednesday. In a bizarre twist, Mr. Fetterman later said he would fight to add the money back into next year’s spending bills.
This year marks the third year of earmarking after Republicans forced a pause in 2011, citing some egregious abuses and headline-making projects.
Among them was Alaska’s “Bridge to Nowhere,” which would have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on a bridge to an island with a tiny population and a working ferry service.
Then there was the case of Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, a Republican who sold earmarks to the defense industry. Prosecutors in his eventual criminal case presented his “menu,” where he listed the defense contracts he could persuade Congress to pass and what price he needed as pay.
The old process also led to waste. In one case, the community of Jamestown, South Carolina, asked for $50,000 to run a library. The local congressman doubled the money but, when the bill was written, it called for the money to go to Jamestown, California — which didn’t even have a library.
“Somebody spent it, but it wasn’t us,” the town clerk told The Washington Times in 2021.
Earmarks were moribund from 2011 to 2020, thanks to Republicans’ control of at least one chamber of Congress during those years.
When Democrats grabbed both houses in 2021, they restored earmarks with restrictions that they said would prevent abuses.
All requests are supposed to be made public and be accompanied by a written justification explaining who is getting the money and why. The recipients are supposed to be public offices, such as a county government or a nonprofit agency.
Rep. John Rutherford, Florida Republican, said those have turned out to be “very good guardrails” that have kept earmarking within limits.
He said it’s Congress’ prerogative to spend the money.
“Do you want the bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., deciding where 100% of that money goes, or do you want the representatives?” he said. “I see this as good governance because we are the ones making the decisions.”
He said the total amount of spending was tiny compared with the overall budget.
The list published by the House Appropriations Committee contained about 3,400 projects totaling $6.1 billion, or 1.3% of the $467.5 billion in total spending.
The big-ticket earmarks are major interstate highway and airport projects. Sen. John Boozman, Arkansas Republican, persuaded colleagues to provide $67 million for work on Interstate 49. Rep. Tom Cole, Oklahoma Republican, won $36.5 million for a longer runway so the Max Westheimer Airport can handle Gulfstream 5 flights.
Often, it’s the small-ticket items that raise eyebrows, such as questions about the role of the federal government in fixing a local street or traffic light.
“Our concern is that there’s a lot of stoplights and safety needs across the country. When you actually have a process that the projects are awarded on merit or even by formula, you have a much more equitable system of allocating those limited tax dollars,” said Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Although proponents said they had fixed the abuses of the old system, states connected to powerful lawmakers do better.
Kentucky, home of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, walked away with about $106 million, and Louisiana, home of the top two House Republicans, is getting $120 million. Massachusetts, which has roughly 40% more people than either of those states, is getting $106 million.
Maine has just one-fifth of the population of Massachusetts but is slated to receive $266.6 million. The state’s senior lawmaker is Sen. Susan M. Collins, vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“By definition, earmarks is substituting political muscle for project merit as far as the decision-making process goes,” Mr. Ellis said.
He said the process does have more transparency than it did two decades ago but has room for improvement, such as more transparency about requests in the Senate and the production of a searchable database of approved projects.