According to the
Congressional Research Service (CRS), “there is not a single definition of the term
earmark accepted by all practitioners and observers . . ., nor is there a standard earmark practice . . . .”
An earmark normally refers to Congressional direction to spend federal money for a specific project, location, or institution. Legislators typically request earmarks that direct spending towards their home states or districts.
Under the Constitution, the federal government cannot spend any money unless it is first appropriated by Congress. Earmarks are an extension of Congress’s constitutional “power of the purse”.
Earmarks normally are attached to the appropriations bills that Congress passes every year to fund the federal government. (However, provisions in tax bills that create exemptions for certain parties are also sometimes referred to as earmarks.)
Earmarks may be included in the text of an appropriations bill, but are usually found in “report language” – i.e in the House-Senate conference report accompanying an appropriations bill, or in the House or Senate Appropriations Committee reports on the bill.
Although federal agencies are not legally required to fund earmarks that appear in report language, they usually do. If they don’t, they risk angering the House and Senate Appropriations Committees which control their budgets.
While earmarks normally refer to Congressional actions to direct federal spending towards particular projects, it should be pointed out that there are also executive branch earmarks. These are funding for specific projects benefiting specific locations or institutions contained in the president’s request.