Earmarks Rise From the Dead in the Democratic Congress
18th February 2021
Earmarks are returning two reasons. The first is that the Swamp itself has returned in full force, now that Trump is gone and his populist movement weakened. The second is that Democratic leaders desperately need a tool to round up congressional votes because their majorities are so thin. A small clique of progressives or centrists can block any bill Pelosi advocates. She and her committee chairs need an effective tool to round up votes.
Earmarks are that tool. Big City Machines used them for decades, securing a councilman’s vote by promising to hire a ne’er-do-well nephew over at Streets and Sanitation department, or put a few more policemen on patrol in his district, or pave the street in front of his mistress’s house. No journalist or political scientist has captured the process better than this brilliant scene from the 1940 movie, His Girl Friday.
My, what a surprise. Democrats are all about buying votes with YOUR money.