Congressional gridlock threatens billions in earmark projects – Washington Examiner
The article discusses the ongoing challenges in Congress related to passing the fiscal year 2026 federal budget by the october 1 deadline. Central to the debate are “earmarks,” or congressionally directed spending, which allocate billions of dollars to specific local projects such as infrastructure, arts, and environmental initiatives. While earmarks are capped at 1% of total discretionary spending and are importent for lawmakers to demonstrate tangible results to their constituents, they remain controversial-especially among fiscal conservatives who view them as a gateway to excessive government spending.
As lawmakers have extended the previous budget from fiscal year 2024 without agreement on a new budget, earmarks were excluded from the temporary funding bills, threatening the allocation for numerous projects. Over 8,000 earmarks worth nearly $15 billion were included in the 2024 budget,and this year,House and Senate members have requested even more earmarks totaling tens of billions of dollars.
Efforts to pass a bipartisan budget deal have been stymied by political conflicts, including intraparty struggles within both major parties and disputes over broader legislative priorities. Some senators advocate for new rules to limit or penalize the public promotion of earmarks by lawmakers.Despite the high stakes,some lawmakers see the fate of earmarks as just one part of a larger gridlock problem facing Congress.
Congressional gridlock threatens billions in earmarks for lawmaker pet projects
A fast-approaching government funding deadline means a new federal budget, and lawmakers can secure funding for community projects back home — or so they hope.
But so-called “earmarks,” formally known as congressionally directed spending, are once again on the chopping block unless Congress can find the bipartisan muster to pass a new fiscal 2026 budget that begins Oct. 1.
The controversial earmarks, submitted by lawmakers and a mechanism Republicans love-hate, involve thousands of individual projects that funnel billions of dollars to roads, bridges, symphony orchestras, and shellfish nurseries.
“You can live without them,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who is running for Alabama governor rather than a second Senate term. “But it makes it a lot easier for the state budgets.”
The United States is currently funded at outdated spending levels from fiscal 2024. After lawmakers repeatedly failed to reach consensus, they were forced to extend the old budget, which will end Sept. 30. A natural casualty of that year-long extension was earmarks.
More than 8,000 earmarks totaling almost $15 billion were in the fiscal 2024 budget. Earmarks are generally not included in stopgap measures to avoid double-funding projects, meaning no earmarks were included earlier this year when lawmakers extended those budget levels with their latest stopgap funding law.
Although earmarks amount to billions of dollars, they are but a fraction of the Nation’s spending, which is nearly $7 trillion annually. They are capped at 1% of total discretionary spending. Still, they’re important markers for lawmakers to show constituents they’re bringing home a piece of the pie.
But to fiscal hawks such as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), who assails earmarks as the “gateway drug” to bloated pork barrel spending, punting with stopgap measures can be a win-win. They keep current funding levels steady and can ultimately kick earmarks to the curb rather than a new budget with elevated spending and earmarks. Johnson is making a long-shot push to enact a new stipulation that would rescind a lawmaker’s earmark funding if they campaign on it or publicly boast of it, including to the press.
“I don’t want to turn this into the quasi-public financing campaigns,” Johnson said.
More than 5,400 earmarks, worth more than $23 billion, have been requested by House members this year for the Oct. 1 budget. Senators made nearly 14,000 requests, but the total amount was unclear.
Even with lawmakers’ prolific use of them, earmarks are but a sliver of the fallout from the potential inability to reach a bipartisan budget deal. And reaching across the aisle several months into President Donald Trump’s second term is anything but prolific on Capitol Hill.
GOP BATTLE BREWS OVER ‘GATEWAY DRUG’ OF GOVERNMENT SPENDING: EARMARKS
This week alone, Republicans and Democrats have sparred over a logjam on presidential nominees against the backdrop of Democratic infighting over whether to more forcefully resist Trump, including a jarring episode in which Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) accused liberal colleagues of being “complicit.”
“I think whether we get earmarks or not is the least of our problems,” said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), an Appropriations Committee member.
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