Nita Lowey pours cold water on talk of reviving earmarks this year

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Nita Lowey says she doesn’t expect to revive earmarks in House spending bills for fiscal year 2020, blunting talk from top Democrats about potentially bringing them back this year.

Ms. Lowey said in a letter to colleagues dated Feb. 28 that while she is a “strong proponent of Congressionally-directed spending,” there isn’t the “bipartisan, bicameral” support at the moment to revive the practice.

“For that reason, I do not expect Fiscal Year 2020 House spending bills to include Congressionally-directed spending,” said Ms. Lowey, New York Democrat.

Ms. Lowey said Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate should still continue to discuss the issue going forward.

She and other House Democrats, including Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, had been eager to reverse a longtime ban on the practice after Democrats retook a majority in the House following the 2018 midterms.

Earmarks are line items tucked into bills that carve out money for roads, bridges, or other projects that are lobbied for by a particular lawmaker or two.

Proponents say earmarking, if used properly, is another tool for lawmakers to deliver tangible results for their districts or states, and that nobody is more in tune with the needs of their constituents than House members or senators themselves.

But critics say the practice is prone to abuse, and it’s landed at least one member of Congress in jail in the last decade.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had said right after the 2018 elections that he didn’t foresee a return to earmarking.

“We have a conference rule related to earmarks on the Senate side. I cannot imagine that will change,” he told reporters then.