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<\/a><\/p>\nIn Defense of Earmarks<\/p>\n
The Constitution gives Congress control of the purse strings. Congress works through a system of committees. It\u2019s not possible for every Member and Senator to be an expert on everything the government spends money on.<\/p>\n
Now on the principle of subsidiarity, that should mean that many of the decisions made by Congress ought to be delegated to much lower levels. Left to the states, or even to local school boards and tax districts. <\/p>\n
On the other hand, to pursue a strategy of technology \u2013 as an example \u2013 specific decisions have to be made. In military research and development it is quite possible to have legitimate disagreements on policy. On the other hand, if you don\u2019t have the technology you can\u2019t take certain directions. You can\u2019t build weapons that you don\u2019t know how to build.<\/p>\n
At these levels it is quite possible that individual Congressmen have good ideas for development projects that are not favored by the Administration. Much of our military technology has been developed due to funds specifically allocated in authorization and appropriation bills. Then there is service politics: the Air Force will no relinquish any fixed wing air missions, but in fact the Air Force doesn\u2019t like to do close support of the field army, or interdiction and isolation of the battle area. The Air Force doesn\u2019t like Warthogs, and being assigned as a Warthog pilot is generally considered a career ending post. Most of the close support and interdiction missions turn out to be flown by Air National Guard units \u2013 and most of the appropriations for the aircraft and weapons needed for those missions has been through legislative direction \u2013 i.e. earmarks.<\/p>\n
I could give other examples, but I think the point is made. The Constitution specifically gives the Federal Government the right to build post offices and post roads, and in the early days of the Republic there was considerable competition for funding of post offices in various small communities. Log rolling \u2013 you vote for my local project and I\u2019ll vote for yours \u2013 has been with us since the first Congress. It\u2019s part of the oil that keeps the system running.<\/p>\n
Now it\u2019s true enough that Earmark Projects will increase without number if there is no limit placed on them. Part of that is the Iron Law \u2013 once something is established there is always a lobby for it, and since everyone pays but few benefit directly you get a force for the appropriation and only a generalized \u2018turn them all out!\u2019 opposition. That too is the way the world works.<\/p>\n
Earmarks need to be controlled by rules. They should always be open, voted on by the relevant committee, not thrust into the appropriation in the dead of night by an influential Member. They should be debated. But they should not simply be ended. Sometimes individual Congressmen have pet projects that really do benefit all of us. That particularly happens in the sciences, where there would be very little contrarian research and development if the Big Science consensus controlled the appropriations. Earmarks can be for very silly projects, and fund very silly ideas; but they are not really a very large part of the budget, and for every dozen or two pork barrel museums and preservations of the birthplace of some obscure community favorite son, there will be sound research and development that leads to useful technology. The DC\/X could be classed as an earmark; and the country is better off for having funded it. It was rammed down the throat of the expendable rocket industry which has no incentive to develop technology for reusable rockets.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in favor of having a brighter spotlight put on earmark appropriations, but it would be a very bad idea simply to eliminate them.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m still trying to recover from this upper respiratory things. I think I am recovering \u2013 I thought I would be recovered enough to go to my LASFS meeting tonight \u2013 but it\u2019s slow. When it came time to go out, I stayed home and watched mindless TV. I\u2019m now trying the zinc stuff: I don\u2019t really believe in it, but I have recommendations from MD readers who say they don\u2019t believe in it either but they\u2019ve seen it work and use it themselves\u2026 I took a long nap after lunch and still didn\u2019t feel up to going out. Sable is making it very clear that she is entitled to walks, and why aren\u2019t we doing it><\/p>\n I\u2019m working on it.<\/p>\n But at least some things get done. I think we have the final version of the latest Niven-Pournelle-Barnes project.<\/p>\n Coming soon to an eBook site near you. Note I said coming soon. It\u2019s not up yet. This is a teaser. It\u2019s a novella set on Avalon.<\/p>\n View 714 Thursday, February 23, 2012 In Defense of Earmarks The Constitution gives Congress control of the purse strings. Congress works through a system of committees. It\u2019s not possible for every Member and Senator to be an expert on everything the government spends money on. Now on the principle of \u2026 Continue reading <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"