The new guidelines include increased transparency and accountability measures so members cannot abuse the system.
Republicans banned earmarks in 2011, and Democrats in the House and Senate hope the reforms will gain bipartisan support.
After earmarks were banned in 2011 due to corruption scandals in that late 2000s, the House Appropriations Committee on Friday unveiled its new reforms that accounted for transparency and accountability in community funding.
Earmarks, which Democrats have switched to calling community project funding, are congressional provisions that direct funds toward a specific project within a community.
While the system was designed for Congress to submit requests for funding that their constituents truly needed, it proved to be easily exploited when in 2005, Alaska Rep. Don Young secured $233 million for the infamous bridge to nowhere that few people would have used, and when former California Rep. Duke Cunningham accepted at least $2.4 million in bribes
Key Democrat offers bill to restore limited earmarks
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Key Democrat unveils plan to restore limited earmarks
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Earmarks benefit lawmakers more than localities Print this article
Democrats are bringing back earmarks, and plenty of media voices are cheering the development. Some commentators, on both the Left and the Right, say earmarks are the grease that makes the congressional machine work. Another defense, from some conservatives and libertarians, is that Congress rightly should exercise more spending authority than it does and should cede less to the executive.
Both of these arguments have merit and ought to be weighed against the costs (in terms of corruption, mostly, of earmarking). But one argument that strikes me as naive is that earmarks are just about helping out local communities. I believe this ignores both the economics and the politics of earmarks.
Earmark Revival in Congress Brings Lobbyists Fresh Opportunities
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