Earmarks are a stubborn and nasty habit

Old habits die hard in Washington, and earmarks are a Capitol Hill compulsion that’s especially hard to kick.

Old habits die hard in Washington, and earmarks, typically tacked on to legislation for purely political reasons, are a Capitol Hill compulsion that’s especially hard to kick.

Despite a 2010 “moratorium” on earmarks, the price of legislative pork continues to rise, according to the 2017 Congressional Pig Book.

As documented by Citizens Against Government Waste, earmarks amounted to $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2017, up more than 33 percent from the previous year.

Unfortunately the supposed earmark ban didn’t eliminate longtime funding streams for partisan pork.

The primary difference today is that this congressional spending is “patently less transparent,” according to the report. “There are no names of legislators, no list or chart of earmarks.”

The alleged beneficiaries include interior, state and foreign operations, along with legislation dealing with agriculture, defense and energy, The Washington Free Beacon reports.

Among the flagged spending is more than $66 million for the National Endowment for Democracy to supposedly grow economic institutions and $5.9 million for the EastWest Center, which was supposed to boost Asian relations and which the State Department reportedly has tried to defund for years.

Never mind that some congressional porkers want to fully restore earmarking.

What’s needed is a permanent legislative ban that would eliminate billions of dollars in purely partisan spending with little, if any, public purpose.

— The Pittsburgh TribuneReview, The Associated Press

Documented earmarks amounted to $6.8 billion in fiscal year 2017, up more than 33 percent from the previous year.