Eying Earmarks

House Appropriations defense subcommittee Chairman Bill Young (R-FL) recently issued a "Dear Colleague" letter containing guidance for how panel members should submit their proposals for the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill, and warning them that earmarks "will not be considered." Specifically, according to the April 20 letter:

Please consult the earmark disclosure statements included in prior appropriations Acts to assist in making a determination. If the activity was previously listed as a congressional earmark, the Committee will continue to treat it as such. In addition, corrections to past earmarks will also be considered earmarks. IF you have any questions, please consult the Subcommittee staff.

Please also be aware that any request for earmarks also invokes the Code of Official Conduct. Clause 17 of the Code prohibits Members from requesting a congressional earmark without disclosing certain information to the Chair of the Committee of jurisdiction. Members are advised to carefully consider their submissions to the Committee in light of this.

The above language on earmarks was also included in all the other appropriations subcommittee chairmen's letters to colleagues, and comes in the wake of the House Armed Services Committee's doing the same thing, as InsideDefense.com reported in March:

The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has issued guidance banning all earmarks and requiring complete transparency in the process of amending future defense authorization bills.

Released by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) today, the guidelines state that budgetary legislative proposals "must be offered as an amendment to the bill (not the committee report)" when the full committee meets to mark up the defense authorization legislation. McKeon notes that the proposals must be voted on by the full committee.

"Only HASC members will be able to propose amendments during mark-up," McKeon writes in the guidance, noting that House members who do not serve on the committee can add proposals when the full House considers the legislation. "Please be advised that the full committee chair and subcommittee chairs will not include any member budgetary legislative proposals in their respective marks."

The guidance calls for all legislative proposals to be submitted by noon on April 11.

In addition, all proposed amendments must include a brief description stating both the amendment's purpose and "military utility." The guidance also prevents lawmakers from directing federal agencies to "expend the funds with (or award a contract to) a specific entity or within a specific locality."