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Earmark discussion goes largely unheard

By Chris Casteel

The Daily Oklahoman

March 17, 2006

Mar. 17--WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress have become increasingly consumed with getting special projects for their districts, which is driving up spending, enriching lobbyists and hindering oversight, lawmakers and watchdog groups said at a hearing Thursday.

Rep. Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican who has authored legislation aimed at reducing congressional earmarks for home-state projects, said the number of such projects has "exploded under our watch as Republicans, and it's nothing to be proud of."

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, whose subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security hosted the hearing, said earmarks rose from 4,126 in 1994 to 15,877 in 2005. Last year, he said, earmarks totaled $64 billion. Republicans have been in charge of both houses of Congress for nearly all of the past decade.

Coburn, who has fought unsuccessfully in the past several months to kill some lawmakers' projects, including the "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska and funding for private museums in Washington and Nebraska, said Thursday that earmarks were "a gateway drug on the road to spending addiction."

"One day, an otherwise frugal member votes for pork; the next day, he or she votes for a bloated spending bill or an entitlement expansion," he said. "After all, a 'no' vote might cut off access to earmarks."

Coburn, Flake and others said the growth in lobbyists in Washington has tracked with the increase in earmarks. Sometimes, Flake said, lobbyists fill out forms intended for lawmakers to request special projects from the spending committees. Then the lobbyists turn them over to the lawmakers for their signatures and they're submitted, Flake said. Lobbyists, lawmakers, earmarks and campaign contributions have become "inextricably linked," Flake said.

Playing to an empty house
Flake and other lawmakers, including Coburn and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are pushing to rein in earmarking as part of the broader effort to reform lobbying practices. McCain said Thursday that the issue has energized Republican voters and drawn support from the majority of Americans. "This is the time to do it," he said.

Coburn conceded later, however, that there is little interest in Congress in tackling the issue. Only one other senator on his subcommittee showed up for the hearing, and he left after a brief opening statement. And, after Flake and McCain testified, the hearing room mostly cleared out. "There's no one else in attendance because this is not deemed to be a problem," Coburn said.

Thomas A. Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, responded that the lawmakers were probably off working on earmark requests. Flake had said earlier that Thursday was the deadline for getting special project requests to the Appropriations Committee. That deadline, he said, meant there were many lobbyists on Capitol Hill "who wouldn't be here otherwise."

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