The president Monday night called for a 50% reduction in earmarks -- pork barrel spending crammed into appropriations bills to satisfy the constituencies of members of Congress. They're wildly unpopular across the country -- except when they come back to the individual voter's district. That's why it's so hard to do anything serious about reducing earmarks.
After all, the only unpopular ones are the ones that go to some other districts. If a congressman from Alaska tries to get $200 million for a bridge to serve a couple of dozen people in his isolated district, that enrages people. But how many of us vote in that district? The folks who do live and vote there are likely to love that congressman for trying to bring home the boodle.
And so it goes on, and on.
A lot of us are pretty hypocritical on this topic. Rep. Devin Nunes got close to the mark when he told The Bee's Michael Doyle that he is “fed up” with how certain senior lawmakers take home millions of dollars in projects while other lawmakers must “scrounge around.”
Nunes, to his credit, has said he will tell his constituents that it's time to forego the pork for the sake of the nation and its budget. Bet he doesn't have a lot of company in that.
You should remind readers that the predecessor and mentor of Rep. Nunes was Bill Thomas, an earmarker of the highest order, and the kind of Republican that Der Manouel respects and admires. Yep, these folks call themselves "fiscal conservatives". They are scroungy alright.