FEW EARMARKS are to be found in the text of the $555 billion omnibus appropriations bill that President Bush signed last week. But there are plenty tucked away in accompanying committee reports. Because these items are not technically part of the appropriations law, Bush suggested he might tell department officials not to spend money on them. If he carries out this threat, he would offer Congress a valuable lesson: A valid earmark shouldn't be buried in the pork barrel.
Massachusetts is mentioned by name in five items in the text of the law. The Fitchburg-to-Boston commuter rail line gets $5,880,000 for improvements; the Blue Line corridor is allotted $1,960,000; Bay State fishermen get $13,395,000 to relieve economic distress; the John F. Kennedy Library receives $8 million to start work on an addition; and Northampton is declared eligible for aid from the Rural Business Program. These are all congressional earmarks, but plainly and publicly stated - and worth the money. They would not be subject to the Bush threat.
But one wonders why the federal government needs to spend $265,000 to fix up the Amherst Cinema Arts Center, or $200,000 to renovate the estate of John Bartholomew Gough, a minor 19th-century orator, in Boylston. The United Teen Equality Center in Lowell will welcome $100,000 for renovations, but what about other youth centers across the nation that might not have access to an influential congressman (or in this case a former congressman, Martin Meehan).
Boston can use a $1 million grant to repair Commonwealth Avenue, and Springfield will appreciate $750,000 to refurbish Edwards Street, but state and local governments should take care of local roads. All these and thousands more earmarks are in congressional documents outside the appropriations law.
This opacity clouds the value of other projects on the lists. Many flights to Nantucket Airport come from out of state, so the federal government is justified in spending $3,250,000 there; likewise for the $200,000 that Norwood Airport will receive. Money for mass-transit improvements will reduce traffic on interstate highways, a vital federal asset.
Bush should be allowed to wield a line-item veto, just as President Clinton did briefly in the 1990s before the Supreme Court struck it down. Without that, blanket refusal to spend the money is a blunt weapon. Bush shouldn't threaten important items or appear to single out projects in Democratic districts.
The Democratic-led Congress has reduced the number of earmarks compared with previous years, but there are still many more than are necessary. While they constitute a tiny part of federal spending, they bring the whole appropriations process into disrepute. Next year, Congress should abandon those semi-secret lists. The sunshine of openness will make most extraneous items wither away.
