Taking Down the Earmarks

As I’ve noted repeatedly here at FT, the latest federal budget is a pork-laden mess.  After promising to get earmarks under control, the Democratic-led Congress still decided to pass a bulky omnibus that includes some 9,000 earmarks totaling more than $12 billion.  These earmarks constitute a massive waste of taxpayer money, and they lend themselves –as we’ve seen with Duke Cunningham — to easy abuse and corruption.

The good news, however, is that right now there’s a potential for President Bush to wipe out the majority of the earmarks.  All he has to do is say the word.

Most of the earmarks are buried in committee reports that aren’t part of the legislative text.  According to an attorney for the Congressional Research Service, that means that these earmarks don’t have the force of law. President Bush, then, could simply issue an executive order telling federal agencies to disregard any spending provision not explicitly spelled out in the legislative text.

Now, this wouldn’t actually reduce spending.  But it would mean that Bush could basically wipe out a practice that encourages political favors and corruption.  It would also free up all that money to be used as the agencies saw fit, rather than on priorities designated by legislators to aid their political agendas.

This is an extremely attractive option, one that could strike a serious blow against fiscal irresponsibility.  FreedomWorks encourages the President to issue such an order as soon as possible. 

Others have weighed with encouragement in as well, including the Wall Street Journal, George Will, the DC Examiner, and Larry Kudlow.