In stimulus bills, earmarks by any other name

EXCLUSIVE

By Michael Grabell and Christopher Weaver

updated 10:29 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2009

Lumped together, the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus plan number some 1,400 pages, roughly the equivalent of the complete works of Shakespeare.

And some of the language is just as artfully crafted.

The package includes an insurance exemption — but only for companies that work on recreational boats longer than 65 feet. Another provision would lift a Medicare regulation affecting only three long-term care hospitals in the country.  There’s also language requiring the Transportation Security Administration to buy 100,000 uniforms from U.S. apparel makers.

In theory and publicity, the package is “earmark free.” But it contains dozens of narrowly defined programs that send money to specific areas or cater to special interests, despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to pass “an economic recovery plan that is free from earmarks and pet projects.”

Some — like the yacht workers’ exemption — would take little or nothing from taxpayer pockets. Others, like $3 billion in extra transit money added by the House, are handing ammo to critics who say the stimulus plan, now at about $900 billion in the Senate, has morphed into a Christmas list.

As part of the ShovelWatch project with WNYC radio in New York, ProPublica plumbed the depths of the stimulus bills looking to see how closely Congress is coming to Obama’s stated goal.

What is an ‘earmark’?
In part, the answer hinges on the definition of an “earmark.” Democrats insist they are nowhere in the plan; Republicans see “pork” everywhere. So we cribbed from criteria Congress laid out in a 2007 reform bill: language that aims spending at specific programs, states or localities, often at a member’s request.

Specific location? The Senate stimulus contains $50 million for habitat restoration and other water needs in the San Francisco Bay Area. There is another $62 million for military projects in Guam.

Specific industry? The House bill includes an amendment authored by Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley setting aside $500 million for biofuel makers, which he says, would bring jobs home to Iowa.

Specific program? There’s $198 million to compensate Filipino World War II veterans for their service. Most don’t live in the United States.

In a speech about the stimulus last month, Obama acknowledged that there often are valid  arguments for earmarks. At the same time, he called for restraint.

“Many of these projects are worthy and benefit local communities,” he said. “But this emergency legislation must not be the vehicle for those aspirations. This must be a time when leaders in both parties put the urgent needs of our nation above our own narrow interests.”

Video   Obama: Plan has no earmarks Feb. 5: President Barack Obama explains to NBC's Matt Lauer that he is confident his proposed economic stimulus plan will gain support from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. NBC News

Obama continued to defend the legislation in a round of network interviews this week, telling NBC's Matt Lauer, “I am confident that by the time we actually have the final package on the floor that we are going to see substantial support. And people are going to say this is a serious effort. It has no earmarks. We’re going to be trimming up things that are not relevant to putting people back to work right now."

By far the bulk of the stimulus spending will be doled out through agencies like the Department of Transportation or programs such as Medicaid and food stamps that use existing formulas. That brings some accountability to road and bridge projects, for example, which typically go through a state process that determines which should get funded first. Transit money, too, is allotted by formula.

But when the sausage-making gets going on Capitol Hill, there’s always an end around.

Two House Democrats with a hunger for transit money — Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York and Ed Perlmutter of Colorado — helped secure the extra $3 billion, pushing total transit funding in the House bill to $12 billion. Nadler touted it as a boon for commuters that would help New York City’s financially strapped subway system jumpstart work on a huge backlog of projects.

‘Not the Flamingo Hall of Fame’
Supporters of the narrowly defined projects say criticism is unwarranted. Their projects not only save or create jobs, they say, but in some cases correct oversights in previous legislation and add little to nothing to the overall cost of the stimulus package.

No doubt the yacht repair yards in Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s district in South Florida would benefit from the insurance exemption for work on boats longer than 65 feet.

The current law governing such insurance was intended to draw a distinction between workers on recreational boats and workers on big ships, who faced greater dangers and were required to carry additional longshoremen’s insurance, she explained in offering the provision.

But since then, yachts have gotten longer and owners have skipped to Mexico, Canada or Caribbean for cheaper repairs, creating a hardship for small businesses in South Florida, Seattle, Massachusetts and the Great Lakes, said Wasserman Schultz’s spokesman, Jonathan Beeton.

“It’s not the Flamingo Hall of Fame,” he said. “This is if you are a carpet installer … in order for you to go in as a small business owner and step foot on that boat, you have to have longshoreman insurance for your employees. ... The economic impact on these areas is pretty high.”

Rep. Larry Kissell made a similar argument when he offered the amendment for TSA uniforms, which are made of fabric produced in North Carolina but sewn together in Mexico and Honduras. Working in the local textile industry for 27 years, Kissell witnessed plant closings as more and more jobs fled overseas.

“The immediate impact would be to bring the assembly work to the U.S., which would create jobs,” said Lloyd Wood of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, an industry group that has lobbied for the provision for five years.

But there is also political bonus for Kissell, a freshman congressman. If the amendment survives, he and Democrats would gain an early victory that Kissell’s Republican predecessor couldn’t secure.

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