Washington lawmakers secure $464M in earmarks

WASHINGTON — When members of Congress passed a $1.7 trillion spending bill last week to fund the government for most of 2023, they included more than $15 billion in funds directed to specific projects in communities across the country, including more than $464 million to Washington, according to disclosures from appropriators.

Many Republicans who voted against the full spending package, including those who represent central and Eastern Washington in the House, nevertheless chose to request so-called earmarks for their constituents, arguing the process gives local communities more say in how their federal tax dollars are spent. But for the second time in as many years, all three lawmakers who represent North Idaho in the House and Senate opted out of the process, saying the projects are an irresponsible use of taxpayer money.

Funding for several Eastern Washington projects was requested by members of both parties in both the House and Senate. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, joined with Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Washington Democrats, to secure $5 million for a study by the Upper Columbia United Tribes aimed at boosting salmon populations. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, worked with Murray and McMorris Rodgers to get nearly $3.9 million to replace the Sackman Road Bridge near Odessa.

“I am incredibly proud that these federal dollars are going make a huge difference for people in Eastern Washington by investing in local priorities like child care for our workforce, safer roads and bridges, and recovering our salmon populations,” Murray, who will lead the Senate Appropriations Committee in 2023, said in a statement. “This funding is great news for Spokane and all of Eastern Washington.”

After Republicans banned earmarks following the 2010 election in response to high-profile corruption cases tied to the practice, Democrats in control of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees brought them back in 2021 with new transparency rules aimed at avoiding the scandals of the past. Many Republicans still oppose the funding, which is capped at 1 percent of Congress’s total discretionary spending, but the incoming House GOP majority on Nov. 30 voted down a proposal to ban earmarks, suggesting most Republicans see the upside in directing federal dollars to their constituents.

In Idaho’s 2nd congressional district, which covers most of Boise and the state’s eastern half, GOP Rep. Mike Simpson secured $36.8 million for 14 projects, ranging from $5.7 million for a railroad underpass in Pocatello to $813,750 for a fire station in McCammon. Simpson, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, worked to include that funding in the bill before ultimately voting against it.

“While there are plenty of individual provisions of this bill that I support, the positives did not outweigh the tremendous cost of the total package, and the irresponsible 11th hour gimmicks thrown in by Democrats to hide the true cost of the package,” Simpson said in a statement, while applauding the inclusion of the earmarks he requested.