Why Earmarks Matter

In the past when I’ve complained about GOP earmarks and praised Dallas’ Jeb Hensarling’s fight against them), readers (mostly Republicans, defending Republican excesses) tell me to stop fretting, earmarks are only a tiny component of the federal deficit. That may be true . But Conn Carroll of the Heritage Foundation now has a chart up which argues for a correlation between increased earmarks and out-of-control government spending. And that doesn’t even include the attendant corruption (hello there, Sen. Ted Stevens).