Jurassic Pork

By all accounts, the earmark ban has been a resounding success. Creating new pork projects as we knew them through the earmarking process is not and has not been permitted. Yet, in one form or another, legacy spending on earmarks, their recipients, or the projects they spawned remains. This is an issue that spans any partisan divide. In some cases, including thousands of transportation earmarks, the original funding amounts reserved for earmarks remain unspent. In other cases, such as some national parks and preferences in the tax code, earmarks were permanently established by Congress. Still others simply evolved and found new sources of sustenance, like grant awards, within the federal budget. This report, Jurassic Pork, examines many of the congressional earmarks and related spending that persist to this day. Embedded within the federal budget, these projects continue to cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. Many have even outlasted the terms of the politicians who created them. While providing a glimpse into the past and the corrupting nature of the earmark favor factory and pork barrel politics that politicians in both parties are seeking to revive, Jurassic Pork also offers recommendations for Congress.