Re: Earmarks

I agree with Andrew: This sudden race in the House to see whose holier-than-thou on earmarks is a good thing.  But there are three reasons why no one should get too excited about the recent developments:

1.  As Andrew notes and I've remarked on previously, eliminating earmarks doesn't actually reduce spending; all it does is change who makes the decision from Congress to an executive branch agency.  Unless the appropriation is reduced at the same time the earmark is eliminated, which no one is suggesting, the amount that will be spent will remain the same.

2.  Also as Andrew points out, even if all earmarks were eliminated and appropriations were cut by a corresponding amount, the amount that spending would be reduced would be relatively small and certainly not enough to make an appreciable difference in the deficit outlook.  It's not that $20 billion or so isn't a great deal of money.  It's just that $20 billion a year less in discretionary spending is barely a rounding error compared to the magnitude of what will need to be done when deficit reduction is the correct fiscal policy.

3.  The earmark limits are only being proposed in the House.  So far there has been no corresponding effort in the Senate...and none is expected.  That almost certainly means that there will be earmarks in fiscal 2011 but they'll emanate from the north rather than the south side of Capital Hill.