House Republicans Draw Flack for Changing Earmarks to Favor Rural, Exurban Districts With GOP Officials

House Republican leaders are revamping their approach to earmarks—the controversial tool that enables individual representatives to direct tax dollars to favored projects in their districts—by barring them from four major appropriations bills in the 118th Congress.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-Texas) and the GOP chairmen of the panel’s 11 subcommittees on Feb. 28 issued new guidance on earmarks, which are now referred to as “community funding projects” (CPFs).
The new guidance excluded earmarks from the four appropriation bills covering the Department of Defense, Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Financial Services, and Foreign Affairs categories. Earmarks sought in those categories tend to come most heavily from Democrats representing big-city and suburban districts, while Republican earmark requests are often for projects in rural and exurban districts….}