Earmarks—we hear a lot about them these days, mostly in a negative way. So what’s an earmark? It’s an innocuous sounding word. Earmarks are inserts and attachments to spending bills used by politicians to direct money toward pet projects, also known as pork. You might remember the “Bridge to nowhere?” It was a project an Alaska politician proposed to build a bridge to a small island that had fewer than 50 people. The cost for the project was $220 million. A shocking waste of tax money! Another one this year: $2 million for a college center named after New York Rep. Charlie Rangel—modestly proposed by—Charlie Rangel.

Former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, who is familiar with this kind of mischief, said recently: “There are three groups of people who regularly spend other people's money: children, thieves, and politicians. All three of these groups need supervision—a watchful, responsible eye who keeps them in line. For children, that means parents. For thieves, that means police and the courts. For politicians, that means America's many concerned voters...many in Washington hope the electorate will be too busy to pay attention so that they can continue with their three favorite activities: spending, spending, and more spending.”  The tally for this year’s earmarks total 15 billion—hardly chickenfeed.

Here are several more examples of earmarks placed into spending bills by Senators from the states where the money is to be spent.  

$6,305,310 for John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, arts in education

$11,000,000 for University of Alabama, for construction, renovation, and equipment.

 

$10,750,000 for University of Louisville Research Foundation, to upgrade and expand cardiovascular facilities.

$1,575,000 for Marshall University for the Virtual Colonoscopy Outreach Program.

$1,100,000 for United Mine Workers of America, classroom and simulated rescue training for mine rescue teams.

This isn’t a partisan issue. Both parties are eager to spend taxpayer’s money and plenty of it. Here are a few dollar amounts:

$96,600,000 for Sen. Inouye (D-HI)
$87,411,000 for Sen. Harkin (D-IA)
$86,575,000 for Sen. Stevens (R-AK)
$53,126,310 for Sen. Cochran (R-MS)
$51,250,000 for Sen. Akaka (D-HI)
$33,590,000 for Sen. Byrd (D-WV)
$25,105,310 for Sen. Kennedy (D-MA)
$22,625,000 for Sen. Specter (R-PA)
$14,450,000 for Sen. Clinton (D-NY)
$14,450,000 for Sen. Schumer (D-NY)
$11,700,000 for Sen. Domenici (R-NM)
$10,045,000 for Sen. Grassley (R-IA)
$9,800,000 for Sen. Kerry (D-MA)
$9,000,000 for Sen. Reid (D-NV)
$6,500,000 for Sen. Hutchison (R-TX)
$1,900,000 for Sen. Cornyn (R-TX)

Here are a few from the House of Representatives:

$1,000,000 for City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA for enhancements to the HIV/AIDS service delivery system in San Francisco.

$911,000 for Native American and Native Hawaiian museum services.
$60,757,000 for National Technical Institute for the Deaf.

There’s no argument that most of these earmarks appear to be for worthy causes. The only question is who should have to pay for them. Should we Texas taxpayers be paying for a California or New York politician’s pet project? Should we be funding an  after school Homework Assistance Program in California or an Afro-American museum in Massachusetts? We have equally worthy causes right here in Texas.

 Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have pledged to sign a ban on earmarks for the coming year—at least until after the election.

 But. There’s another side to all this. Another term for earmark pork is “bringing home the bacon.” Senators and Representatives sponsor these earmarks as a way of bringing back home, some of the millions that their respective states send to Washington. If it doesn’t come back home to be spent wisely, then it will be foolishly squandered in other states on monuments to their politicians.

 Our congressman, Ralph Hall (R) Rockwall, sponsored earmarks this year totaling a mere $2.35 million. That’s a very modest amount compared to what others have put forward. I would urge everyone to contact Rep. Hall and suggest he get busy and bring home a lot more bacon. The way I see it, if we get more for our state than we give to theirs, then we win.