AAF Letter to Congressional Republicans on Banning Earmarks

Dear Congressional Republicans:

Last month, the American people saw the corrupting and corrosive influence of earmarks on full display. Under the guise of “Community Project Funding,” Congress passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill containing earmarks for abortion centers, organizations that indoctrinate children in gender ideology without their parents’ knowledge, climate activist groups, and a blatantly antisemitic organization.

In total, the fiscal year 2024 spending bills contained 8,099 earmarks accounting for $14.6 billion in taxpayer funds.1

This never should have happened. However, the remedy is simple and the same as always: ban earmarks.

Banning earmarks is nothing new. Conservatives fought more than two decades ago to ban the practice. House Republican Conference rules explicitly banned earmarks for over a decade. In fact, earmarks were so unpopular that President Obama pledged to veto any bill containing earmarks and Speaker Pelosi held the gavel for two years before reinstating the practice. Far from a foreign concept, House Republican Conference rules didn’t permit the practice until March 2021, when House Republicans voted 102-84 to resurrect earmarks. Senate Republicans banned earmarks for twelve years before bringing the practice back in 2022.

We urge you to ban earmarks and return to previous Republican congressional precedent.

Paul Teller Ryan Walker Executive Director Executive Vice President Advancing American Freedom Heritage Action

1 Jack Fitzpatrick, “Republicans Who Backed Earmark Bans Bring Home Money Anyway,” Bloomberg, March 22, 2024. https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/republicans-who-backed-earmark-bans-bring-home- money-anyway

Tony Perkins President Family Research Council Adam Andrzejewski CEO & Founder OpenTheBooks.com Tom McClusky Director of Government Affairs CatholicVote Paul Winfree President and CEO Economic Policy Innovation Center Andrew Roth President State Freedom Caucus Network Shannon O. Royce, J.D. President Christian Employers Alliance (CEA) Nate Dunning Chairman Young Conservatives of Texas Robert Alt President and CEO The Buckeye Institute

Kristan Hawkins President, Student for Life Action Students for Life of America Kristen A. Ullman President Eagle Forum Thomas H. Jones President American Accountability Foundation Lisa B. Nelson Chief Executive Officer ALEC Action Horace Cooper Chairman Project 21 Black Leadership Network Greg Sindelar Chief Executive Officer Texas Public Policy Foundation Daniel J. Erspamer Chief Executive Officer Pelican Institute for Public Policy