Fiscal watchdogs have made pork-barrel spending an issue in the presidential race by pressing candidates who have served in Congress to disclose the pet projects they’ve sought to finance. The disclosures so far have been largely along party lines: the Republicans are telling, while the Democrats, except for Barack Obama, are not.
The Republican candidates seem to be talkative because of the losses their party took in last year’s election. Some GOP lawmakers were caught up in scandals related to earmarks, and voters expressed anger that the Republican-led Congress had let federal spending balloon out of control. The growth in spending is in part a result of the quadrupling of academic earmarks, the controversial, noncompetitive set-asides secured by lawmakers for scientific research and other projects at colleges and universities.
One earmark sponsored by Senator Obama was awarded last year to the University of Chicago Hospitals, where his wife, Michelle, worked until this year as vice president for community and external affairs, The Washington Post reported today. The $2-million project financed research on brain trauma suffered by soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. (The Post offered conflicting viewpoints about whether this constituted a conflict of interest.)
Mr. Obama’s requested earmarks for 2008 include projects for several other Illinois colleges. He has challenged his Democratic rivals to follow suit and disclose all of their requests.
More of the Democratic candidates than the Republican ones now serve in Congress, and a law enacted this year is shining new light on the earmarks they have sponsored. All legislators must list their earmarks in appropriations bills starting in the 2008 fiscal year. However, a loophole has allowed senators, but not members of the House, to use vague language that hides the intended recipients on some projects.
Among the leading Republican candidates for president, Sen. John McCain is an ardent opponent of earmarks. Two other candidates, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, have not served in Congress. Fred Thompson, who secured earmarks as a former senator from Tennessee, has called for disclosing details and limiting their number.
Three other GOP candidates who are currently congressmen, Duncan Hunter, Ron Paul, and Tom Tancredo, have disclosed all of their earmark requests for 2008. Their low poll numbers have made them long shots for the nomination.
Even with its rapid growth, federal spending on earmarks is small relative to the total federal budget and the deficit. But in this race, pork-barrel projects have become a simple measure of candidates’ commitment to fiscal discipline. Don’t be surprised to see candidates singled out for sponsoring frivolous-sounding earmark projects for colleges and other recipients.
