Washington, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) today introduced the Steermark Accountability Resolution to allow senators to force votes to strip steermarks – money steered to programs and projects that have not been authorized by Congress – from appropriations bills. The resolution is cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).

“With earmarks gone, steermarks ought to be public enemy number one in the effort against wasteful spending,” said Flake. “It’s all too easy to find waste in these unauthorized appropriations, but we’re operating under a system that makes it almost impossible to stop. This resolution will establish a much-needed backstop to ensure an honest debate before a spending bill is allowed to steer taxpayer dollars to an expired agency, program or project.”

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (itself currently funded with an unauthorized appropriation), at least $310 billion of worth of unauthorized appropriations are being funded in FY 2016. Over half of that sum – $160 billion – goes to fund programs that have gone more than 10 years without an authorization. These unauthorized appropriations run the gamut from funding for entire agencies including NASA ($18.6 billion), National Science Foundation ($7.4 billion), the National Institutes of Health ($31.3 billion), and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($445 million) to more parochial items such as:

• $146 million to fund the Appalachian Region Commission (last authorized in FY 2014)
• $10 million to fund grants for electric transportation projects (last authorized in FY 2013)
• $3.9 million to fund grants for projects and studies to implement the Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (last authorized in FY 2010)
• $3.1 million to fund salaries and expenses of the Administrative Conference of the United States (last authorized in FY 2011)
• $3 million to fund the Klamath River Basin Conservation Area Restoration Program (last authorized in FY 2006)
• $2.9 million for harbor projects in Charleston, South Carolina (last authorized in FY 2004)
• $650,000 to fund the John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission (last authorized in FY 2011)
• $400,000 to fund the Illinois river basin restoration (last authorized in FY 2010)

Traditionally, Congress has adhered to a two-step process of first passing authorizing legislation to establish or continue a federal agency, program or project (usually with an end date) and then funding it through one of 12 agency-specific appropriations bills. This process – known as regular order – puts a premium on oversight and allows legislators to hold bureaucrats accountable for their regulatory and spending decisions before they can receive another round of funding. However, in recent years, regular order has taken a backseat to a flawed process of passing a handful of massive, often last-minute appropriations bills that continue to fund agencies, programs, and projects after their authorizations have expired. By allowing must-pass spending bills to steer money to these unauthorized programs, Congress has fostered an environment that allows unelected bureaucrats to waste taxpayer dollars with little or no consequence.

Flake’s resolution would create a backstop to allow individual senators to strip these unauthorized appropriations out of spending bills. The measure would expand on current Senate rules to allow any senator to raise a point of order and trigger a vote to remove an unauthorized appropriation from a spending bill. If 60 senators vote to uphold the point of order, the unauthorized appropriation will be pulled from the underlying bill. The resolution would also require the appropriations committee to report all unauthorized appropriations in any spending bill, including omnibus appropriations bills.

The text of the resolution can be viewed here.

Background:

• In May 2016, Flake released his fifth Senate oversight report, Twenty Questions: Government Studies That Will Leave You Scratching Your Head, to highlight 20 tough-to-justify federal studies that diverted federal funding away from support for more transformative research. All but one of the studies featured in the report were funded through an unauthorized appropriation.

• Since 2006, annual unauthorized appropriations have nearly doubled, and the number of programs operating under expired authorizations has increased more than 45 percent, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service.

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