Congress members come home with cash for local projects
Rep. David Valadao is facing a tough reelection. He’s also got a potential $53.4 million in local public works projects, funded by federal dollars, that he can brag about when he goes home.
The Hanford Republican is one of the biggest users of the local project process, once known as earmarking — and pork to critics — according to an analysis by Roll Call, an independent Capitol Hill publication.
Valadao’s potential project spending ranks 13th among House members. He’s in one of the most volatile reelection races in the country, seeking another term in a district that President Joe Biden won by 13 points in 2020.
There’s long been disagreement about whether allowing members of Congress to spread federal money around to local projects is a blessing or political poison. The items are included in spending bills that are awaiting final congressional approval.
“Congressman Valadao utilizes community project requests to bring existing federal dollars to eligible projects that benefit our community – such as expanding access to clean drinking water, combatting homelessness, and improving local infrastructure,” said Faith Mabry, his spokeswoman.
Valadao’s initiatives generally involve infrastructure, such as the $7.3 million to help resurface roads, restripe lines, create bike paths, build sidewalks and more as part of the East Lacey Corridor Improvement Project in Hanford.
Legislation includes $9 million for Bakersfield homeless shelter services and $3.9 million for the Avenue 56 Farm to Market road, which primarily serves unincorporated areas of Tulare County.
Pork or community projects?
The practice of having individual members of Congress include such projects in legislation was once regarded as often politically toxic. Today most Republicans and Democrats embrace it..
But not all. Rep. Katie Porter, D-irvine, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat, refuses to participate. Rep. Tom Mcclintock, R-elk Grove, has long been opposed.
“Republicans must reclaim the mantle of fiscal integrity and fiscal responsibility – and we should start by renouncing the tawdry, corrupt, and irresponsible practice of congressional earmarks,” he wrote in an op-ed last year.
He called the system one “in which individual members direct spending to pet projects in their districts or grants to favored supporters, bypassing merit-driven competition.”
Supporters of the practice view it as the sort of work a member of Congress should be doing, since they best know the needs of their constituents.
“It is very district and project specific. Most voters are smart enough to distinguish between pure pork and legitimate projects or programs that are important in their community,” said Dave Gilliard, a Republican consultant for Reps. Doug Lamalfa, R-oroville, and Kevin Kiley, R-rocklin.
Earmarks were banned in 2011, after controversy over projects that appeared too expensive and irrelevant. Among the most notorious was the so-called “Bridge to Nowhere,” a 2005 plan to better connect the Alaskan city of Ketchikan to an island with its airport and 50 residents.
But in a Congress where members who aren’t chairs or leaders rarely get traction for their bills, and junior members struggle to get noticed, the clamor to restore earmarks kept growing.
In 2021, the practice was revived and rebranded as “community funding projects.” The process is far more transparent. A member seeking funding has to explain publicly why it was needed. New rules against conflicts of interest were adopted. Potential recipients had to show why they needed the funding.
Profit-making entities are ineligible for the money. House lawmakers are limited to a maximum of 15 projects.
The Senate operates in a similar fashion. In the transportation spending plan passed last week, which now goes to the House, Sen. Alex Padilla and the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, both D-calif., had a total of 20 projects tucked in to the measure. Most were joint efforts.
Road building
One of the most popular vehicles for the items is the spending bill for transportation and housing, since such work tends to be most visible and pressing.
About two-thirds of all the community projects are in the bill, which the House debated Tuesday. Many of the federal dollars are use to leverage or are added to state, local and private money.
Among vulnerable California lawmakers, Rep. Kevin Kiley, Rrocklin, placed four local items into the bill. Three are part of the highway infrastructure program: $4 million for the US 50-Empire Ranch Road interchange in Folsom; $3.2 million for the Blue Oaks Boulevard Roadway & bridge widening in Roseville, and $1.04 million for Folsom Lake Crossing safety improvements.
Also included is $1 million for Pride Industries to modernize transportation for people with disabilities.
Kiley won his first congressional term in 2022 with 53% of the vote. Inside Elections, a nonpartisan website that analyzes House races, says the district is “likely Republican” in 2024.
Rep. John Duarte, R-modesto, is seen by analysts as more vulnerable. Inside Elections rates his race a tossup. He narrowly won in 2022, and is seeking reelection in a district Biden won by 11 points..
Duarte has five projects in the spending bill. The largest is $5 million for the city of Mendota’s pavement management, which will help with repairs over about 20 miles of streets
Also included is $3.24 million for Parksdale community road rehabilitation in Madera County, $3 million for street, bike lane and sidewalk reconstruction in Tranquility, $2 million for sidewalk and street improvements in Cantua Creek and El Porvenir,and $95,000 to help Huron’s Las Casitas de Lola domestic violence shelter.
The top project recipient in California is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-vista, at $67.2 million. Valadao is next among state lawmakers, and Rep. Ken Calvert, R-corona, who also has a potentially tough reelection, has $44.9 million.
Valadao and Calvert are members of the House Appropriations Committee, which writes the spending bills.
Valadao’s other projects include $6 million for road work in Mcfarland, $6 million for a new city well and treatment plant in Delano, $4 million for the International Agri-center Way Extension Project in Tulare, and $3.5 million for street improvements in Porterville.
The projects are usually not changed once the legislation reaches the full House, as members defer to one another over local matters.
California lawmakers with likely easy reelection bids also have multiple projects in the transportation and housing bill.
Rep. Doris Matsui, D-sacramento, secured 10 items. Among them: Sacramento River docks planning and design for improvements, $1.5 million; Sacramento Avenue Phase I, complete street project, $1 million; Elk Grove zero emissions vehicle municipal infrastructure, $1 million and Dos Rios light rail station, $1 million.
Rep. Ami Bera, D-sacramento, has 12 projects included. Among them: Sacramento Area Urban League’s Hub in the Heights, an economic development venture in Del Paso Heights, $2.5 million; North Sacramento adult day facility, $1 million; Johnston Park renovation, $1 million; Mather Veterans Village, $1 million ; Citrus Heights Sayonara Drive housing project, $1.05 million and Sacramento Food Bank vehicle expansion, $1 million.
“Republicans must reclaim the mantle of fiscal integrity and fiscal responsibility – and we should start by renouncing the tawdry, corrupt, and irresponsible practice of congressional earmarks.”
— Rep. Tom Mcclintock in 2022 op-ed