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Canceled funding may hurt the needy

A plan by Democrats to strip all earmarks from spending bills may mean many programs and services in Kansas will not receive funding

By Eagle Washington Bureau

The Wichita Eagle (Kansas)

December 24, 2006

Congressional earmarks: Bad, right? Bridges to nowhere. Corrupt lobbyists. A big part of all that's wrong with Washington.Except: Not entirely.Earmarks -- federal dollars set aside for specific projects -- also direct key resources to financially strapped social-service agencies, ensuring that tax dollars serve the communities they came from.

So a plan by congressional Democrats to strip all earmarks from pending spending bills when they take control Jan. 4 will come with a distinct human cost to the nation's neediest. In Wichita, that means the public schools in Kansas' largest school district likely won't get the $300,000 secured by Republican Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt for new technology, software and equipment such as specialized keyboards for special-education students.That money is important because while the state provides money for teachers and aides, there is no allocation for equipment or devices to help special-education students.

"We appreciate this kind of appropriation because it's funding that you might not have in your budget," said Susan Arensman, a school district spokeswoman. "This would have been great to help in the learning process."

Tiahrt called the need "acute," noting that families with special needs often move to Wichita because rural districts lack appropriate resources.And the World Impact Good Samaritan Health Ministries clinic, which provides a range of medical and dental services to about 3,000 of Wichita's urban poor, many of whom are uninsured, probably won't see an expected $350,000 in combined earmarks obtained by Tiahrt and Sen. Pat Roberts.What would that money have done?

"Serve more of the impoverished and medically needy and expand... services to include physical therapy, patient counseling, and drug and alcohol treatment and prevention," according to the clinic's request letter to Tiahrt's office.

Effects across Kansas

The story is the same throughout Kansas and the country: Overall, the House and Senate spending bills for education and social services had about $1 billion in earmarks.Other spending bills held hundreds of millions more for similar programs.Housing programs for homeless youth, rural health centers, after-school programs and family literacy programs are all losing key funding.

Many social-service earmarks are small compared with multimillion-dollar earmarks frequently found in bills that pay for defense, transportation, and research and development projects.But social-service agencies typically operate close to the bone. For example, the Kansas Learning Center for Health in Halstead, with an annual budget of about $220,000, had received a $100,000 earmark secured by Roberts.The money would have helped the center expand its statewide health education programs to underserved schools in western Kansas.

"It would have been a huge shot in the arm for us," said Megan Evans, the center's executive director. Without the earmark, the expansion "wouldn't happen."

Earmark moratorium

Both parties generally love earmarks, which are also referred to by opponents as "pork barrel" projects. So what happened this year? A combination of failure of the last Congress, a new Congress wanting to focus on its priorities, and angst over earmark-related scandals that buffeted Congress in recent years, like hundreds of millions of dollars for questionable bridge projects in Alaska and a bribery scheme that landed former Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham of California in prison.

Republicans were unable to pass most of this year's spending bills before the 109th Congress adjourned earlier this month. Of the 11 bills that pay for annual federal operations, only those paying for defense and homeland security passed. When they take control of Congress, Democrats plan to impose a one-year moratorium on all earmarks, effectively killing those that were tucked into unfinished spending bills by the Republican-led Congress.Democrats then plan to push for reforms on the way special projects are funded.Earmarks included in this year's House and Senate bills will be eligible for consideration in 2008 after reforms are in place, according to the incoming Democratic appropriations committee chairmen, Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin and Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

Many members who sought out these earmarks are unhappy. Roberts called it a "failure of leadership by both parties." Tiahrt, a member of the Appropriations Committee, agreed there had been excesses in earmarking that need to be reined in, but said earmarks are an important tool that most members of Congress will defend.

"There is a common responsibility among congressmen to see the needs of their district are being met," Tiahrt said. "There has to be some way, other than going through the bureaucracy, to get these things done. This is worth fighting for."

Reach Matt Stearns at 202-383-6009 or stearns@mcclatchydc.com.