Congress Feasts On Vegan Pork Despite Earmark Ban

Not long ago, appropriations cardinals had the best jobs in Washington. They didn’t just have the power of the purse; they got to brag about how they used it. But three years ago, when profligate spending became a political liability, Congress imposed an earmark moratorium. In these days of austerity, poor appropriators are reduced to boasting about their parsimony. “There were no earmarks in this bill,” Senate Appropriations chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat, told reporters on Monday, after she struck a deal on a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill to fund the government this year.

But wait. Here’s Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, boasting about how the bill’s “strong investments in our environment and natural resources” represent a coup for her home state of Washington. Murray’s press release touting how she “secured dozens of wins” notes, for example, that she got $65 million for the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund, $15 million more than requested by President Obama’s budget, as well as $25 million for restoring the Puget Sound ecosystem, $8 million more than Obama’s budget request.

More