EDITORIAL: Oink, oink

When Republicans took control of the U.S. House in 2011, they banned earmarks in an effort to highlight their commitment to fight wasteful federal spending.

Earmarks, you’ll recall, are those parochial pet projects that members of Congress like to slip into appropriation bills as evidence that they’re working hard to deliver the bacon for the folks back home. The most famous earmark was Alaska’s Bridge to Nowhere, a $223 million project connecting the state’s mainland to an island with 50 people.

While certainly more symbol than substance when it came to controlling federal expenditures, the move was welcome nonetheless. But never underestimate the temptations inherent in possessing the power to dole out other people’s money to favored interests, even among those who profess to be fiscal hawks.

Last week, three GOP House members — John Culberson of Texas, Mike Rogers of Alabama and Tom Rooney of Florida — took the first step toward attempting to dismantle the earmark ban. The trio filed an amendment to the House Republican Conference rules to allow lawmakers to direct funds to certain federal agencies and to state and local governments. It would leave in place a prohibition on letting members shower cash on recreational facilities, museums and parks, The Hill reported.

Thank goodness Speaker Paul Ryan was having none of it — at least for now. The House leader recognized the perception such a move would present to an angry electorate. He twisted enough arms to convince his colleagues to postpone any such effort until next year.

“We just had a ‘drain the swamp’ election,” Speaker Ryan told Republicans, CNN reported. “Let’s not turn around and bring back earmarks two weeks later.”

No kidding. And it won’t look any better if they wait a few months. Earmarks represent everything that’s wrong with how Washington operates. They serve as the fertilizer that nourishes cronyism and corruption.

“The explosion in earmarks roughly 15 years ago,” noted a CNN report last week, “gave the Appropriations Committee the nickname as the ‘favor factory,’ with lobbyists contributing campaign donations to members of the panel and clients nabbing federal money for water systems, road construction and other items.”

These types of shady dealings do have their defenders, of course — primarily among the arrogant and oblivious political class still reeling from the recent election results.

“I think it was a terrible disservice to America to come up with this stupid idea to stop congressional-directed spending,” Sen. Harry Reid told the cable network. “I never apologized to anybody. I go home and I boast about earmarks and that’s what everyone should do.”

If House Republicans really want to endorse Harry Reid’s pernicious poppycock, they do so at their own peril.