One of my often rants is the use of earmarks or pork barrel, as we used to call them, projects sneaked into the federal or state budget at the last minute, to benefit a particular constituency. It happens every year as we get down to the wire on approving a budget. This year will not be an exception.
Lawmakers at the state and federal level have until midnight Sept. 30 to avert a partial government shutdown. But we’ve all heard this before and partial government shutdowns are not unusual. Eventually both sides of the aisle will come to terms. They just need to negotiate a few more earmarks- say it isn’t so.
Sometimes earmarks can be as small as $100k going to a particular legislator’s pet interest. Sometimes they are much greater such as the $25 million that was allocated a couple of years ago for the Clare Health Park that is now under state investigation. Almost always the earmarks are granted without competing bids and very little oversight.
At the federal level, earmarks were banned for a decade before resurfacing a few years ago under new transparency rules. In Michigan, earmarks have ballooned in recent budgets, sometimes running into hundreds of millions of dollars. We are told this money helps communities. But the truth is, earmarks distort priorities, weaken accountability, and undermine trust in government.
The danger is not that every earmarked project is useless. Some clearly serve a public purpose: a small-town water system, a needed bridge, or a community center. The danger is that earmarks are chosen based on political clout rather than merit. When public dollars are steered toward the well-connected instead of the most pressing needs, citizens begin to suspect government works for insiders, not taxpayers.
Michigan lawmakers have tried to polish the process. The House now requires earmark requests to be filed earlier in the year. Legislators must provide more detail about who benefits and how the money will be used. Grants to for-profit companies are banned. These are worthwhile steps, but they don’t solve the core problem: earmarks are inherently political.
No matter how transparent the process is, earmarks reward influence. They favor lawmakers with seniority or connections. They elevate private lobbying over open competition. And they make budgeting less about the greatest public need and more about cutting deals behind closed doors.
Michigan’s constitution already provides a check: any “local or private” appropriation is supposed to require a two-thirds supermajority vote in both chambers. But lawmakers have skirted this rule by burying earmarks inside massive omnibus budget bills, passing them with a simple majority. This practice not only violates the spirit of the constitution, it erodes public confidence in the fairness of our laws. If legislators want to fund a local or private project, they should have the courage to secure the votes honestly.
If Michigan and Washington truly want to end the earmark game, changes are essential.
First, enforce constitutional and statutory safeguards. In Michigan, that means requiring a supermajority for local or private spending and forbidding earmarks from being hidden in giant budget packages. At the federal level, Congress should consider stronger thresholds — even separate votes — for any earmark.
Second, replace earmarks with competitive review. Infrastructure, education, and community programs should be funded through open application processes, judged by clear criteria. That way, projects succeed based on merit, not muscle.
Some argue that earmarks grease the wheels of democracy, giving legislators a reason to compromise on big spending bills. That may be true, but it’s a poor excuse for waste and favoritism. Democracy is not strengthened by trading favors. It is strengthened by open debate, honest budgeting, and public trust.
Earmarks aren’t just about money. They’re about integrity. Every time a lawmaker sneaks a project into the budget, voters lose a little more faith that government serves the people equally. Until we end the earmark culture both Lansing and Washington will keep writing checks that weaken our budgets and our democracy.
I’ve written this a dozen times, but no one is listening. I implore our leaders to end earmarks now. The time has come to stop playing games with the public’s pocketbook.
