GOP battle brews over ‘gateway drug’ of government spending: Earmarks

Ramsey Touchberry, Washington Examiner

The GOP spending cut fights in Congress are about to become all the more contentious.

Lawmakers face rolling deadlines throughout May to submit so-called earmarks for the annual budget, a popular mechanism that Republicans have a love-hate relationship with but that offers members of Congress a chance to score funding for local projects. Republicans see them as either a chance to grab a piece of the pie for constituents or a nasty “gateway drug” to wasteful government spending. The answer depends on who you ask.