Bush’s Earmark Executive Order Disappoints Conservatives
Rob Bluey /
President Bush will issue an executive order tomorrow that directs federal agencies to ignore any future earmark that is not voted on by lawmakers and included in a law approved by Congress. It’s a long-overdue step by the administration to curtail earmarks, but falls short of what conservatives had hoped Bush would do.
Bush’s maneuver will apply only to future earmarks, subjecting them to votes and greater transparency. However, it does nothing to block the nearly 10,000 earmarks included in the omnibus spending bill passed last month.
The White House set a goal of cutting earmarks in half last year, but Congress ignored Bush’s request and earmarks jumped from 2,658 to 11,043, costing nearly $17 billion. Bush’s executive order contends that earmarks inserted in committee reports are not legally binding, but the White House won’t challenge the earmarks Congress already approved.
During a White House press briefing today, spokeswoman Dana Perino was asked why Bush’s action would apply only to future earmarks:
The President decided that he needed to give the Congress a very clear indication of what he was going to do. Last year he called on Congress to voluntarily cut the number of earmarks in half; they did not do that. The President will not go retrospectively back to the earmarks that were in the omnibus, but he will take this action for 2009 appropriations.
Remember, an executive order remains in place unless a future President decides to rescind it or change it. So we think this is a good, solid action, and it’s a good way to do business, in terms of signaling exactly to Congress what you plan to do and then taking further action if they — since they didn’t voluntarily reduce the number of earmarks.