* Tom Kacich…
Congressional earmarks — specific projects advanced by individual members of Congress for their districts through the appropriations process — once led to prison terms for congressmen and lobbyists, the rise of the tea-party movement and an earmark moratorium that has existed since 2010.
Well, guess what’s back.
They have a new name — community-project funding and member-designated projects — but earmarks have been revived by the Democrats who run the House and Senate. And Republicans have joined the revival — although not all of them are on board.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is the only member of Congress from Illinois who didn’t submit any requests. Miller’s district includes Charleston-Mattoon, Danville, Paris, Rantoul, Tuscola and areas south.
According to Kacich, Rodney Davis requested $37.5 million, Adam Kinzinger requested about $81.8 million and Darin LaHood asked for $91.8 million. These are requests. Final amounts are to be determined.
* Meanwhile, US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi announced $1.27 billion in higher education funding from the American Rescue Plan, split almost evenly between student aid and institutional awards. The list is long, so click here to see it.
- OneMan - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 12:59 pm:
You figure she at least would have asked for money to help people remove stickers from their car that their kid added even though they didn’t really know what they meant.
- Jibba - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:00 pm:
Miller’s district consists 100% of makers, so nothing is needed from government. No kids to educate or poor to feed. I think Ayn Rand wrote about them.
- NIU Grad - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:04 pm:
Even Rep. Ron Paul of all people would push for earmarks for his district…the idea being that if the government is going to spend the money anyway, some of it might as well end up in the district.
Glad to see southern Illinois has someone looking out for them… /s
- Asteroid of Caution - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:04 pm:
God bless her heart
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:07 pm:
===Freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is the only member of Congress from Illinois who didn’t submit any requests.===
Also the only member of Congress that had staff publicly resign. There’s another explanation besides her purposefully failing to submit any.
- Homebody - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:07 pm:
If the federal government (or state government for that matter) has discretionary spending where it needs to decide which projects to prioritize in a given area, there has to be some method to get local input. I don’t like the idea of putting pork projects in bills to buy a vote, but I wholly support relying on local input and local request at the decision-making stage after the bill is passed.
- Candy Dogood - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:08 pm:
*Only member of Congress from Illinois
- Red Ketcher - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:11 pm:
What would Kenny Gray say ?
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:13 pm:
Wow. Ken Gray is spinning in his grave.
Some possible reasons:
1) Everything in her district is in great shape.
2) She was trying to figure out how to join the Matt Gaetz-Marjorie Taylor Greene caucus.
3) She was waiting for directions from Q.
4) She is helping count votes in Maricopa County.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:17 pm:
Actually it’s pretty genius…
It’s not like she’s voting for any earmarks for any other member.
Of course her district is going to be swallowed up by others so thankfully in 2023 it might be different… unless Rodney Davis is scared of Mary Miller… boy, that’d explain a lot about Trumpkins
- Out Here In The Middle - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:22 pm:
==Of course her district is going to be swallowed up by others==
No, her district will be the heart and capitol of New Illinois!
- Proud Sucker - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:37 pm:
The big difference now is the requests are all being published on the Congressperson’s own website and/or on the Committee’s website. You can still ask for a bridge to nowhere, but it will be known publicly and submitted with the marked-up bill.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:40 pm:
All of the infrastructure in her district must be in such good condition that nothing needs to be fixed.
All new bridges, not a pot hole anywhere, schools all caught up with life safety improvements, town water/sewer systems water tight and functioning properly.
Sure. I believe that. /s
- Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:55 pm:
To be fair, Rep. Miller went to DC to support Trump. Unfortunately for her, Trump left town.
- Huh? - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 1:55 pm:
A representative saying no to free money that would help her constituents is mind blowing.
- CubsFan16 - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:00 pm:
NIU Grad hit the nail on the head. Imagine being *so* “principled”, you vote against the best interest of your district. If you want to vote against implementing the policy, fine, but if it comes into place don’t permanently bury your head in the sand.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:17 pm:
=Imagine being *so* “principled”, you vote against the best interest of your district.=
Welcome to rural America. They have been doing this for more than 30 years.
- thisjustinagain - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:28 pm:
“An earmark by any other name would smell as sweet”; zero surprise this was done (see also Illinois allegedly doing away with parole, instead calling it Mandatory Supervised Release, despite all the functional and factual similarities of one to the other. And was anyone (municipalities, schools, etc.) asking her to obtain funding for anything, or bringing to light a need not previously addressed? If she doesn’t know of a need, why ask for any money? Conspiracy theories about why she didn’t are no more credible than those spread by her party.
- Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:31 pm:
“Conspiracy theories about why she didn’t are no more credible than those spread by her party.”
That’s a load. We can speculate logical reasons why she didn’t. It is nowhere near saying the election was stolen. Use your brain.
- Roadrager - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:32 pm:
==A representative saying no to free money that would help her constituents is mind blowing==
Check out the states telling the feds to go kick rocks with their dump trucks of cash for Medicaid expansion. Wisconsin just spat in the face of $1.6 billion.
But actively harming your constituents to own the libs gets a whole lot of donor money, media attention, and votes, so the system works.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:37 pm:
=== Conspiracy theories about why she didn’t are no more credible than those spread by her party.===
So… your tin foil hat is that Miller who is quite the odd duck to say the least, who still thinks quotes from the leader of National Socialists work, but are “out of context”… your take is that her own ineptitude and gross negligence to her district… can’t be based on the ridiculous things she espouses?
I mean… that *is* me giving her benefits of doubts, lol
- don the legend - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:38 pm:
Maybe Rep. Miller can request funds but ask that they be used to repair the Capitol for the damage done during her supported insurrection.
- NorthsideNoMore - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 2:48 pm:
Grandstand all you want, but bringing home some bacon keeps you in the seat.
- Still Waiting - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 3:41 pm:
I live in the 15th. There are roads here that have completely crumbled into loose gravel. Even some state highways here get the oil and chip treatment rather than proper maintenance. There are bridges everywhere that need replaced. Many of the school buildings in the district are falling apart. I’m sure President Glassman at EIU is just thrilled with this representation too. What a disgrace.
- Holding Back - Tuesday, May 11, 21 @ 9:44 pm:
This clearly illustrates another example of the reasons people should serve in local government before federal office