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Q: What is your take on adding earmarks to federal legislation? Should Maine’s delegation do it or eschew it?
Scott K Fish
Congress each year authorizes money for a blizzard of government programs packed into thick budget bills, commonly known as the “Farm Bill,” “Defense Bill,” “Education Bill.” Because these budgets are so fat, no one person knows all that’s in them, which makes budget bills an easy place for members of Congress to hide their “earmarks.”
Earmarks can be congressmen’s pet projects, or the price a member of Congress demands for voting in favor of a budget bill. Earmarks are often “vote buying” favors from congressmen to special interests and/or well-connected political donors. There are no public hearings for earmarks. No congressional debate. Earmarks are jammed into budget bills in the literal and figurative dark of night and sent by Congress to an unaware president to sign into law.
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According to a nonpartisan watchdog group, Taxpayers for Common Sense, for fiscal year 2008’s spending bills “Congress disclosed 11,234 earmarks worth $14.8 billion. An additional $3.5 billion worth of earmarks were added with no sponsor identified.” (Did you catch that last part? Congress approved $3.5 billion in earmarks from who knows where!) That’s a total $18.3 billion in earmarks this year alone.
“[E]armarks are not themselves the problem. Earmarks cost tens of billions and the [federal spending] problem is measured in trillions,” writes Americans for Tax Reform’s Grover Norquist in his book, Leave Us Alone. “But earmarks are the broken windows of the federal budget,” Mr. Norquist continues. “Just as when we look at a neighborhood and see buildings with broken windows and realize no one cares, a Congress tolerating the political spending of a few thousand or even a few million dollars of taxpayer monies in earmarks will not police the spending of billions and trillions.”
Bingo! Expanding on my description of earmarks, Norquist says ending earmarks is important because they “are used by congressional leadership to get congressmen and senators to vote for legislation they otherwise would not support: they are often…little bribes to encourage really big spending.”
I wish I could say congressional Republicans were earmark free. Sadly, they’re not. In Kimberley A. Strassel’s 5/24/08 Wall Street Journal column on U.S. House Republican Leader John Boehner, it was awful reading of Representative Boehner’s inability to persuade his caucus to denounce earmarks: “The recent farm bill was a $300 billion, subsidy-laden grab bag of handouts to special interests. Boehner railed against the legislation on the House floor, urging GOP members to vote against it. The bill passed . . . with the help of 100 Republicans. President Bush vetoed it, and the House promptly overrode the veto.”
Generally, we citizens must insist Congress and the White House stop spending so much in such a reckless manner. Every dollar taken and spent by government is a dollar unavailable in the private economy—where we always find job creation and innovation.
Specifically, if Congress thinks spending our money on a project is worthwhile, then debate it openly where we can all see, hear. No more sneak attacking on our wallets.
Sean Faircloth
True story: In 1996 I had an idea for a children’s museum in downtown Bangor. When I suggested it, many said, “Too ambitious for Maine.” I absolutely loved the experience. I traveled around the country and personally suggested many of the exhibit ideas. I suggested a children book award, “Time of Wonder,” be offered by the museum. I urged that the planned name—Eastern Maine Children’s Museum—be changed to Maine Discovery Museum. (Why should Portland always use the term “Maine”—with no regional modifier?) It was a blast!
After five years of an incredible team effort, involving hundreds, MDM opened on a bitter cold day in February 2001—lines wrapping around Freese’s building. Of 25 New England children’s museums, MDM is second in size only to Boston—and arguably tops in quality. MDM sparked downtown revitalization and gave our region confidence that made bold ideas realistic: the art museum, the historical museum, the folk festival.
I returned to the legislature in 2002. In 2003, Congressman Michaud’s chief of staff asked me if there was anything I thought would be of real importance to our region. I suggested $300,000 for Maine Discovery Museum. Michaud called me months later: Mike had secured over $300,000 for MDM!
Mike Michaud has done similar things numerous times, based on conversations with people in our community. Congressman Michaud knows Maine, and knows who, and what, will make a difference.
That’s my story.
Notice, I didn’t use the term “earmark.” Why? When you know the specifics, the right words for Michaud are “effectiveness” and “judgment.”
If some had their way, the conclusion of this story would be impossible. The decision would be limited to faceless bureaucrats in Washington. If my proposal had been required to be presented in some dry grant proposal, how would the excitement, passion, and hope connected with Maine Discovery Musuem be appreciated by Washington bureaucrats?
Total congressional earmarks for fiscal year 2008 were worth $18.3 billion. The Department of Defense appropriations bill gobbled up $7.9 billion of that $18 billion. So, 43% of earmark money—almost half—goes to military “uses” that our military never sought in their own proposed budget! Maybe “earmarks’ for parks, bridges, children’s hospitals, and, yes, children’s museums—analyzed by local leaders—are not a scandal, but a positive function of government.
People often complain about Republican Senator Ted Stevens’s bridge to nowhere in Alaska. In the end, Alaska’s governor said the bridge wasn’t workable and went with a much less expensive ferry expansion. Meanwhile, that $300,000 for Maine Discovery Museum came through because Congressman Michaud understood how important MDM is to our region. Strangely, some of the same people who scorn “earmarks” won’t mention many MORE billions for weapons that are sometimes sold to dictators and that do actual damage to our national security. America gave Osama bin Laden his first arsenal! True story.
Meanwhile, I’ll trust Mike Michaud over any bureaucrat to understand Maine’s unique stories and needs.
