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Quote by: iclaudius  Well, actually, that's what it's called.
But anyway, what is the brightline for "nothing to do with the bill"? Should congress be given the power to void anything in the bill? What if it cripples what the bill is supposed to do, and they don't realize it? |
Congress has the power to nullify anything in a bill, heck, they created the bill, and really have full power over the content. here's the type of material that would constitute as earmark.
There was a bill put to Congress about the funding of the war in Iraq. There was a clause in the bill that appropriated 1.7 Billion for agricultural subsidies in the US. These subsidies had nothing to do with the funding for Iraq, but were used to help either buy votes from some senators/representatives or to gain support for those people by making their people happy. This type of spending should be targetted.
However, it was in the news recently that a National Guard unit in Georgia was not getting enough new equipment to prepare thmeselves for Iraq. If the bill had given them 1.7 Billion for new equipment, that would be acceptable since that money would be used for the armed forces in general, and since they might deploy for Iraq, it is part of the subject.