The Return of Earmarks Means More Pork-Barrel Spending by Congress

Lawmakers stuffed more than 4,000 pet projects, totaling more than $8 billion, into an omnibus federal spending bill passed in March.

Didn't Congress ban earmarks back in 2011?

Because the rules Congress sets for itself apply only if Congress wants them to, the earmark ban has gone the way of other fiscally conservative reforms of the Tea Party era, such as discretionary spending caps.

Advocates for bringing back earmarks have argued for years that a little congressional grift helps grease the wheels of government-as if Congress has ever been reluctant to spend money.

The idea that earmarks facilitate bipartisan cooperation is belied by the fact that the omnibus bill included earmarks for several Republican lawmakers who voted against it.

The problem with earmarks has always been that they are secretive and opaque, often slipped into legislation with no public oversight or process for determining whether the spending is really needed.

There was little time for the public to scrutinize 367 pages of earmarks or any other part of the $1.5 trillion spending plan, which funds the federal government through the end of September.

https://reason.com/2022/05/30/earmarks-are-back/