Many energy and environmental programs are in for cuts in spending legislation Congress is planning to pass in the coming days, but set-asides for lawmakers’ projects back home aren’t suffering.
The spending bill, which includes six fiscal 2024 bills, represents a huge year for congressional earmarks, in which lawmakers give sometimes millions of dollars to specific projects in their home states or districts.
The practice was long dormant, but Democrats revived a limited version in 2021. Republicans added some restrictions for earmarks — now dubbed “community project funding” — when they took the House majority last year.
The package released Sunday includes $12.7 billion in earmarked federal dollars for 6,630 local and state projects. Though it’s just six of the 12 appropriations bills, the total already exceeds the $9.1 billion in fiscal 2022 earmarks and is on pace to exceed fiscal 2023’s total of $15.3 billion for more than 7,000 projects.
