The Alchemist

Last Friday, Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia decided to step down as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Byrd, who will be 91 later this month, had been the top Democrat on the Committee for twenty years. Byrd had successfully resisted efforts by the Senate Democratic leadership to replace him, but decided to step down after Democrats won the White House and increased their majorities in both the House and Senate. 

Byrd was well-known as a master of the earmarking process, obtaining over $400 million in projects for West Virginia last year alone, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a group opposed to Congressional earmarks. Byrd defended earmarks as Congress’s constitutional prerogative. "The Constitution grants to the Congress the power over the purse," he was quoted in an article by the Washington Post. "Congress, elected by the people of the individual states and congressional districts, is in a much better position to know if there are specific needs for federal assistance in their states than unelected bureaucrats in Washington."

Don’t expect the new Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye from Hawaii, to have a different attitude towards earmarks. Taxpayers for Common Sense, found that Inouye ranked fourth among all Senators in the amount of earmarks he won for his state, with $229 million. When challenged on earmarks, Inouye, quoted in a Hawaiian newspaper, said "The U.S. Constitution provides for the budget to be written by Congress."