OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 1:20 PM PT — Thurs. January 18, 2018
The House Rules Committee convenes to discuss President Trump’s call to have Congress bring back earmarks.
While there is little divide over the issue along partisan lines, there are still some hurdles to deal with.
Even while the threat of a government shutdown looms large in Washington, House lawmakers, for the most part, have found something they agree on –bringing back earmarks.
The idea of reintroducing earmarks to the legislative process was first floated by President Trump in a recent meeting with members of Congress.
“You know our system lends itself to not getting things done, stated the president. “I hear so much about earmarks, the old earmarks system, how there was a great friendliness when they had earmarks, but of course they had other problems with earmarks…but maybe all of you should start thinking about going back to a form of earmarks.”
The House Rules Committee is holding a two-day hearing on whether to reinstate earmarks.
Earmarks are added into congressional spending bills to fund “pet projects” in member’s specific states or districts.
They enabled lawmakers to better serve their constituents, but naysayers believe it leads to wasteful spending and corrupt practices.
The practice was banned back in 2011 after then House Speaker John Boehner put a moratorium on earmarks the previous year following Hillary Clinton placing $500 million worth of earmarks on an appropriations package by placing sticky notes on it.
Even though Republicans effectively banned the process, House Democrats are speaking in favor of measures to bring them back.
Partisanship is seemingly a non-issue when it comes to earmarks, however, Republicans are cautious in their approach.
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.(Photo/Joshua Roberts/Reuters/Newscom)
“But I do have concerns about the old log-rolling, pork barrel earmark process that we had which I helped stop, but I do believe that there’s a concern about having more legislative branch oversight on how the executive branch spends money,” stated Speaker Paul Ryan.
Other House Republicans echoed the speaker’s concerns, but agree that there are ways to make the process more transparent.
By giving lawmakers more power to negotiate in passing spending bills, reintroducing earmarks into Congress may avoid future threats of government shutdowns.
