Back in the rural “old days” when farmers and ranchers let their livestock run without fences and pens, how could Farmer Brown know which cows or pigs were his – and not those of Farmer Smith?
One custom was to cut notches, or make other discernible marks, in the ears of the farm animals to identify them for their owners.
Well, that was the original meaning of “earmarks” in the days of open ranges. But nowadays, the word “earmarks” has a different meaning – and involves a big cost to taxpayers.
What’s it all about?
In Congress, there are many spending bills that are absolutely necessary to approve for the general good. So what could be a slicker way for senators and representatives to pass some special spending to benefit just their home districts or states than to attach their local spending projects to the big bills that are sure to pass?
It was natural for such personal-interest spending items to come to be called “earmarks.”
Those items, individually, may be relatively small, but they add up. When many of the 100 senators and the 435 representatives add their “earmarks” for local and personal interests that are not necessarily the proper business of the federal government, they are significant.
That reminds us of the amusing (and ironic) comment attributed many years ago to the late Sen. Everett Dirksen, R-Ill., who became known for trying to keep federal spending in check.
Dirksen is said to have remarked, “A billion here and a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.”
Congress is certainly talking about a lot of “real money” these days, when it is spending well over $1 trillion a year more than even too-high taxes are taking in!
Oh, some say, “earmarks” account for just a relatively small part of federal budget red ink – only about half of 1 percent of the budget. Cutting them out wouldn’t balance the budget. But earmarks still amount to a lot of “real money” that the government doesn’t have and that taxpayers don’t want to pay.
So it is significant that Senate Republicans this week voted to abandon voting for any “earmarks” in the new Congress that was elected this month. The House GOP is expected to do the same.
That unfortunately won’t balance the budget. But every little bit of limiting excess and unnecessary governmental spending can help.