The Budget Deal Is Overflowing With $12 Billion of Earmarks
Why are federal taxpayers paying for upgrades at tiny rural airports, Thanksgiving Day parades, and enhancements for Alaskan king crabs?
Earmarks
Ridiculous Spending on Museums May Be Here To Stay
Handouts for tourist-trap museums will be part of the federal funding battleground in the next two years.
Why Are Some Republicans Revolting Against Kevin McCarthy's Bid To Be Speaker of the House?
The insurgent Republicans want to balance the budget, impose new barriers to immigration, and increase transparency for future earmark spending.
The Return of Earmarks Means More Pork-Barrel Spending by Congress
Lawmakers stuffed more than $8 billion in pet projects into an omnibus federal spending bill passed in March. But wait, didn't Congress ban earmarks back in 2011?
Earmarks Are Back, and They're Just as Sleazy and Secretive as Ever
Lawmakers packed $8 billion of pork into the omnibus bill that passed Congress last night.
Bringing Earmarks Back Won't Fix Congress
Eliminating earmarks didn't make the government smaller. But reinstating them would facilitate legislative corruption.
Republicans Have Made Two Arguments for Bringing Back Earmarks. They're Both Wrong.
Republicans took control of Congress in 2010, in part, by promising to kill earmarks. They might lose Congress in 2018 by bringing them back to life.
The Case For Back-Room Deals, Party Hacks & Unlimited Money in Politics
Jonathan Rauch's Political Realism argues that libertarians should embrace "transactional politics" if they want big changes.