Senate rejects Mike Braun ban on minibus earmarks

The Senate on Thursday voted down a ban on earmarks as the chamber considers a trio of bills to fund the government next year.

Senators voted 35-62 to reject the proposal, one of a series of amendments leadership has been working through since Wednesday as they attempt to pass their first spending bill of the new fiscal year.

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Earmarks, money allocated to special projects in lawmakers’ home states, fell out of favor with the Tea Party movement of the last decade, with both parties clamping down on the practice. But they have since made a resurgence. House Democrats ended a 10-year moratorium in 2021, something Republicans decided not to reimpose when they retook the majority last year.

In the Senate, Republican conference rules ban earmarks, but individual members, particularly appropriators and those in leadership, continue to submit requests.

Most Republicans voted for the ban, introduced by Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN), while Democrats, who control the chamber, overwhelmingly voted against it.

“Republicans at one point showed real character and said ‘no.’ We’re now backsliding the other way,” Braun told the Washington Examiner as the vote got underway.

The practice has long been framed as a symptom of Washington’s spending problem. Congress clocked a $1.7 trillion deficit for fiscal 2023.

Braun, a member of the fiscally conservative “Breakfast Club,” said he’d be willing to entertain earmarks if lawmakers committed to spending cuts but acknowledged he holds a minority view in the chamber. The Senate rejected the amendment last year along similar margins.

“There are only a few of us who really elevate the red ink to being our biggest national challenge,” he said.

The spending bill, known as a minibus because it combines three appropriations measures into one, contains around 1,291 earmarks worth $3.7 billion, according to Braun’s office. The ban would have applied to the earmarks contained in that bill.

The Senate introduced reforms in the last Congress to enhance transparency and accountability for the practice — senators must disclose the requests on their website and certify they have no financial interest in the projects being submitted. And those in favor consider it essential to senators’ ability to deliver for their constituents.

To abstain from earmarks, they argue, cedes the process to the administration and Democrats.

“We don’t apologize for it. We think it’s an appropriate way for us to advocate for our states,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who voted against the amendment on Thursday.

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Braun, who is retiring next year to run for governor in Indiana, rejects that line of reasoning as “lame thinking.”

“They don’t want any constraint on their ability to borrow and spend,” he said. “It is a facet of the broken system.”