Congressional earmarks for transportation have steadily increased from 167 earmarks worth $800 million a decade ago to well over 2,000 earmarks costing $3.3 billion in 2005. Then, says the US DOT Inspector General, they took a huge leap upward in 2006, with more than 8,000 earmarks costing $8.5 biliion.
If you believe in government planning, then earmarks represent a theft from taxpayers because they divert money away from the projects that planners think make the most sense to projects that members of Congress want to help their re-election campaigns. But the Antiplanner considers earmarks to be a natural result of comprehensive, long-range planning.
