The Senate is unlikely to go along with a plan House Democrats are floating to bring back earmarks, the project-specific appropriations provisions that have been banned on Capitol Hill since 2011.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Tuesday he is having conversations about the idea, and House Appropriations Committee Chair Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) has been seeking input from those Democrats most at risk of losing their House seats about how such a move would play in their districts.
Her Senate counterpart, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), told CQ the Senate is likely to stick with the ban.
“The Republican Caucus is on record against [earmarks], so that’s not going to go anywhere right now,” he said.
As Election Day gets closer, appropriators will have an increasingly difficult time reaching agreement on all 12 annual spending bills before the fiscal year starts Oct. 1. Having earmarks – sometimes called “community projects” or “congressionally directed spending” – in one chamber’s bills while another chamber bans them would complicate the conference committee process to clear final spending bills.
DOD photo by U.S. Army Sgt. James K. McCann