{"id":508327,"date":"2021-05-14T15:05:17","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=508327"},"modified":"2021-05-14T15:05:19","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:05:19","slug":"bad-politics-the-swamps-earmark-tab-is-already-about-21-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bad-politics-the-swamps-earmark-tab-is-already-about-21-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bad Politics\u2019: The Swamp\u2019s Earmark Tab Is Already About $21 Billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbad-politics-the-swamps-earmark-tab-is-already-about-21-billion%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=508327&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/capitol-building-scaled-e1621016700460.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p>The first round of earmarks requested by members of the House of Representatives could cost taxpayers as much as $21 billion.<\/p>\n<p>House Democrats have sought $14 billion in funding for district projects, while House Republicans have requested $7 billion, The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/us-policy\/2021\/05\/14\/house-earmarks\/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&#038;utm_medium=email&#038;utm_source=newsletter&#038;wpisrc=nl_most&#038;carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F325a59b%2F609ea1649d2fdae3024fbfbd%2F6026f6c19bbc0f73f6562394%2F48%2F70%2F609ea1649d2fdae3024fbfbd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a> Friday. Out of 435 members, 94 House Republicans and only one House Democrat did not request earmarks.<\/p>\n<p>Earmarks <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/22\/republicans-planning-earmarks-despite-ban-richard-shelby\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are<\/a> line items inserted into bills that direct money towards a specific recipient. By directing spending toward a specific Congress member\u2019s district, they can be used to gain a reluctant member\u2019s support for a piece of legislation.<\/p>\n<p>Both parties in the House agreed in March to reinstate earmarks, and Democrats in the Senate followed suit. Republicans in the Senate maintain a ban on the practice, but it is not enforced. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/19\/15-republican-senators-oppose-return-of-earmarks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: 15 Republican Senators Oppose Return Of Earmarks)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you don\u2019t want to earmark, don\u2019t ask for one,\u201d Republican Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/05\/swamp-politics-senate-republicans-earmarks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse slammed his party leadership\u2019s approach to the practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t complicated: Republicans voted for our rules, the rules ban earmarks, and we ought to keep the rules. Ignoring the rules and running back to earmarks would be a disservice to taxpayers and, frankly, bad politics. Earmarks are under water among Republicans, Independents, and Democrats,\u201d he told the Daily Caller.<\/p>\n<p>Republican Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves requested the most money of any lawmaker. He is hoping to secure more than $1 billion for his district, the <a href=\"https:\/\/garretgraves.house.gov\/2021FundingRequests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">majority<\/a> of which will go to highway construction.<\/p>\n<p>California Rep. Katie Porter, the only Democrat not to request earmarks for her district, wrote in a March Wall Street Journal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/my-fellow-democrats-let-earmarks-stay-in-the-dustbin-of-history-11615576424\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">op-ed<\/a> that earmarks have contributed to \u201ca history of corruption and backroom deals that waste tax dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to break with that history, congressional leaders are rebranding earmarks as \u201ccommunity-funded project requests.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told The Washington Post that she believes new transparency requirements will make sure that members are more responsible with their requests.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is going to be a lot of people paying attention to whether this just becomes a free-for-all, like it arguably was in the past,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, some representatives have requested earmarks for projects that may face further scrutiny.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/05\/07\/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-new-york-hospitals-abortions-earmarks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">requested<\/a> $3.4 million in earmarks for two New York City hospitals that perform abortions. One of the earmarks would <a href=\"https:\/\/ocasio-cortez.house.gov\/sites\/ocasio-cortez.house.gov\/files\/documents\/Stand-Up-to-Violence-Member-Certification.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">create<\/a> a unit of \u201coutreach workers to respond to shootings.\u201d Similar programs have long been desired by activists associated with the \u201cDefund the Police: movement.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/hankjohnson.house.gov\/serving-you\/community-funded-project-requests\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">requested<\/a> $209,000 for an affordable housing and studio complex for professional artists living in and around Decatur, Georgia.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Creative Village Project includes the adaptive reuse of four, former group homes to provide affordable housing and studio space for local artists,\u201d according to Johnson\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal is also requesting money for arts programming. She asked for $210,000 for Path with Art, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pathwithart.org\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">organization<\/a> that provides art classes to Seattle\u2019s homeless population as a way of \u201cbring[ing] dignity, awareness, and healing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jayapal did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first round of earmarks requested by members of the House of Representatives could cost taxpayers as much as $21 billion.House Democrats have sought $14 billion in funding for district &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2278177,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/capitol-building-scaled-e1621016700460.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Bad Politics\u2019: The Swamp\u2019s Earmark Tab Is Already About $21 Billion","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/capitol-building-scaled-e1621016700460.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"\u2018Bad Politics\u2019: The Swamp\u2019s Earmark Tab Is Already About $21 Billion","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2278177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}