Oklahoma Lawmakers Earmark Federal Funds For Local Projects

Republicans in Congress, and in the House especially, are pushing hard to cut spending in next year’s budget, but they’re not cutting back on the use of earmarks, either in the House or the Senate.

Known as 'congressionally directed spending' in the Senate and 'community project funding' in the House, earmarks were banned for a decade before Congress reinstated them in 2021. Simply put, they allow members to direct spending to specific projects in their communities.

"The money is already going to be spent," said Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) in a recent interview.

Congresswoman Bice and other proponents of earmarks argue that they don't increase topline appropriations numbers -- they just give members, as opposed to bureaucrats, more say in how agencies use those appropriations.

"I think, as a member of Congress," said Rep. Bice. "It is my constitutional duty to ensure that we are spending those dollars wisely."

Critics of earmarks, which include three of Oklahoma's members -- Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK1), and Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK2) -- say giving members that sort of granular control of spending is alluring and makes it harder to cast a vote to reduce spending.

Final appropriations for Fiscal Year 2024 are far from settled, but members' requests are in and Oklahoma's other four Republicans all made numerous submissions. Not including transportation requests, which are more numerous, here are the totals for each:

               Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) -- $206.8 million

               Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK4) -- $26 million

               Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK3) -- $8.7 million

               Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) -- $78.5 million

There is some overlap between members. Both Bice and Mullin, for example, included a request for about $60 million for maintenance and improvements to the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Likewise, Reps. Cole and Bice jointly submitted a request for $5.8 million to design a new maintenance shop for F-35's at Tinker Air Force Base.

"These projects are important," said Bice. "They are things like military construction funding, water treatment plants, water projects, transportation funding."

Bice's requests also include $1.8 million for the design of a new readiness center for the Oklahoma National Guard in Shawnee. Sen. Mullin put in for $8.4 million to design a new undergraduate pilot training center at Vance Air Force Base.

Earmarks were done away with in the late 2000's because many felt unscrupulous lawmakers took advantage of them to provide 'pork' projects for their home districts and burnish their reputations with voters.

The Oklahoma members who subscribe to them now say the system is very different -- transparent and trustworthy.

"You have to sign a submission form that says you have no financial interest, nor does anyone in your family have a financial interest," Bice explained. "And you have to publish it on your website [before it's approved]."

Some LGBTQ+ community projects proposed by Democratic House members, controversially, were not approved during markup. It's possible they could be reinserted during reconciliation with the Senate.