Paris Post-Intelligencer Editorial: Corker Says 'No' to State Earmarks

News Article

Process too flawed, our senator declares

Good for Bob Corker.
Our state's junior U.S. senator has taken a courageous and undoubtedly highly unpopular stand of principle: He's not going to make any more "earmark" requests for federal funds for Tennessee.

As a matter of fact, he's withdrawing tens of millions of dollars of proposals he had submitted in the 2011 federal budget for spending projects in the Volunteer State.

That will no doubt outrage a lot of constituents who feel that winning federal dollars for home projects is one of the primary reasons we elect people to Congress.

To them, it must be pointed out that Corker will continue to try to get Uncle Sam to spend his money in our state, just not through the earmark process, which he says is "fundamentally flawed and lacks oversight."

Instead, Corker believes federal spending for home-state projects should go through the same committee study as other parts of the federal budget. Earmarks short-circuit that process, seeking the rubber stamp of Congress without committee analysis of pros and cons.

Those who favor earmarks say congressmen know the needs of their districts better than federal bureaucrats. ("Bureaucrats," being nameless and faceless, are always easy targets. It sounds a lot nastier than "hard-working employees who are experts in their fields.")

Earmark spending projects, by and large, do good work. It's hard to argue that they're mostly worth the cost. What can be argued is how best to go about spending taxpayers' dollars. The Founding Fathers didn't write earmarks into the Constitution.

Corker is the third member of Tennessee's congressional delegation to swear off earmarks, following Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood, and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville.

Many of the projects Corker is forswearing have also been submitted by other Tennesseans in Congress, including our own congressman, John Tanner of Union City. Our senior senator, Lamar Alexander, has defended the earmark process.

But Corker said, "Given our country's fiscal condition, I could not in good conscience keep my name next to any earmark requests this year. It is not necessarily the overall cost of federal earmarks, which represents a very small portion of the overall budget, that poses a problem. It's the process."

Republican House members in March said they will make no pet project requests this year, and their colleagues on the Democratic side said they won't allow any requests that aid private companies. Senators have made no such promises.

Except, now, for Corker. We're proud of him.

Source