Mailbag: Dateline Minnesota: Minneapolis Star: John McCain speaks on "Earmarks"

Congress pressured to cut back on pork
Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune

WASHINGTON - Congress' pork-barrel spending practices are getting a good grilling in the early days of the 2006 session, denounced by a growing number of critics as an embarrassment that could have a big effect on elections this fall.

And while Minnesotans in Congress are offering ideas on changing the system, in fact, as a group they haven't had much success in playing the pork game. Minnesota ranks near the bottom among states in how much money it has received for special projects known as earmarks.

Pork is the derisive term for earmarks, which are usually tucked into bigger spending bills, often during late-night sessions with little or no public debate.

Since 1994, the number of earmarks has nearly quadrupled, going from 4,126 to 15,268 last year. Many members say the system of granting favors to homegrown projects -- often with lobbyists pulling strings behind the scenes -- has spiraled out of control.

Dealing with the use of earmarks has become part of the agenda as ethics and corruption scandals have swept into Congress in the past several months.

Last year, Minnesota ranked 46th in the nation -- up from 48th in 2004 -- in the amount of per-capita pork, according to a study by Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group. Alaska ranked first, and Texas was last. Alaska's success in winning earmarks was ridiculed by many last year when the $452 million so-called "bridges to nowhere" funding became common knowledge.

Over the years, Minnesota has had two veteran players in the House -- both Democrats -- who have led the way in bringing home the bacon for the state: Rep. Jim Oberstar, the ranking member of the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Martin Sabo, the only Minnesotan on the House Appropriations Committee. In the Senate, where seniority is measured by decades, both of Minnesota's senators are in their first terms, lacking the experience to get appointed to conference committees, where earmarks are often added to bills.

"I've gotta tell you: I'm too low on the seniority pole to be involved in those conference committees," said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn.

As Congress prepares to vote on new ethics proposals in the next few weeks, Republican Sens. John McCain, of Arizona, and Tom Coburn, of Oklahoma, want to force separate votes on every earmark, a plan that could guarantee some very long floor sessions.

"This is out-of-control spending ... and it's got to stop," McCain said at a hearing of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee last week. He said Americans "are holding us in very low esteem because of the way that we do business."

Coburn said the public is beginning to connect the dots between members of Congress, earmarks, lobbyists and campaign contributions.

"Pork as we know it today didn't exist 20 years ago," he said, noting that then-President Ronald Reagan vetoed a bill in 1987 because it contained 121 earmarks. "As the majority party, my fellow Republicans have to make a choice -- our majority or our pork."

Coleman said that voting on every earmark is not realistic and that earmarks are not "inherently evil." He wants Congress to assure more transparency in the process to build public confidence. "That's the issue with earmarks: Are they being traded in the dead of night because of favors?"

'A good starting point'

A bipartisan bill introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., would allow a senator to object to any earmark added to an appropriations bill during the final stages of negotiations. Sponsors of the project would then have to get at least 60 votes to prevail.

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., called the legislation "a good starting point" but said it doesn't go far enough. Dayton said he wants Congress to approve an open-meeting law, similar to Minnesota's, that would require conference committees to meet in public.

Many Republicans, including Coleman, are predicting Congress will act quickly on earmarks, but some Democrats are skeptical.

"Already we are hearing the sound of furious backpedaling in the corridors of power," said Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. "People even seem to be having doubts about something that a few weeks ago seemed like a done deal, a ban on privately funded travel."

Coleman expressed concern that Congress will go too far in reining in earmarks.

"I was able to get one little earmark for some work on Duchenne muscular dystrophy," Coleman said. "If your kid has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, he's going to die. ... And the ability to put some money in things where we can make a difference, that's a good thing."

Pork, of course, is in the eye of the beholder, and in Washington a pork project is always in the other guy's district. In its annual "Pig Book," Citizens Against Government Waste took aim at a long list of Minnesota projects, even though the group found far more examples in other states. It listed $250,000 to build a Liberian cultural center in Brooklyn Park, $100,000 for the Minnesota Humanities Commission to pay for an English literacy initiative and $2.5 million for a bridge in Richfield.

Many members of Congress say their constituents expect them to fight for those kinds of earmarks and measure their success by their ability to bring home the pork.

Minge just said no to pork

As the head of the Congressional Porkbusters Coalition, former Rep. David Minge refused to play the pork game, and he figures it's one reason why he's no longer in Congress.

Minge, a four-term Minnesota Democrat from the Second District who was defeated in 2000, refused to vote for a big transportation bill because he said it contained too much pork. That prompted plenty of resentment, with one local official joking that he'd erect a statue of Minge at a congested intersection. Minge's vote became an issue in his reelection race, and he lost by 155 votes.

In an interview with the National Journal in 2004, Minge said some of his constituents "resented the fact that I would not sell my political soul to obtain the federal dollars to remedy their local problem of traffic congestion."

"This stand may have cost me my seat," Minge said.

Minge, now a judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, declined to comment on the debate in Congress or his old battles over earmarks, saying it would be inappropriate for a judge to interject himself in a political debate: "I don't think I need to resurrect all these things. ... There's no statue -- that's all I can say."


Washington Bureau correspondent Aaron Blake contributed to this report. Rob Hotakainen is a Star Tribune Washington Bureau correspondent.