The Alchemist

 

What will Barack Obama’s presidency mean for the future of Congressional earmarks? During the presidential debates, Obama agreed with John McCain that the earmark process had been abused. Obama even went so far as to vote for an amendment earlier this year that would have imposed a one year ban on earmarks.   However, there are strong reasons for thinking that Obama will not try to end earmarks.  

A close look at Obama’s words and actions reveals that he does not view earmarks as a high priority issue. During the debates, Obama noted that earmarks make up only about 0.5 percent of federal spending. Challenging McCain’s repeated focus on earmarks, Obama stated “eliminating earmarks alone is not a recipe for how we're going to get the middle class back on track.” Obama’s vote to ban earmarks was more about neutralizing the issue in the presidential race than a vote on principle.

 

The attitude of the Democratic leadership in Congress is that it has already done enough on earmark reform, by making the process more transparent and cutting back total spending on earmarks from its 2005 peak, when Republicans controlled Congress. It seems unlikely that Obama is going to risk a fight within his own party over an issue that is of far more concern to the base of the Republican Party. 

 

Having failed to make earmarks a significant issue in the 2008 elections, earmark opponents will have a lot less traction in 2009. 

*** This item originally appeared as the third edition of the Alchemist newsletter ***