Golden State Today

After a decade-long battle, lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives voted last week to eliminate the ban on earmarks, requiring them to publicly request district funding as long as they don't have any personal or family conflict of interest.

The vote came after bipartisan support across Congress in which banning earmarks put too much control in the hands of the president, who doesn't have the personal involvement with each district that the House does. After the vote changed the outcome, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) came to its defense.

"There's a real concern about the administration directing where money goes," McCarthy told the Washington Examiner. "This doesn't add one more dollar. I think members here know what's most important about what's going on in their district, not [President] Biden. I think members want to have a say in their own district."

Although the bill had plenty of support from both parties, there were still some members that spoke against lifting the ban.

“That isn't the leadership that we need," Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said in a House Freedom Caucus news conference Wednesday, according to the Washington Examiner. "The Republican Party should be ashamed of itself for embracing earmarks when the American people are staring $30 trillion in debt."

There were 18 Republicans, led by Roy, who wrote a letter to the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) last week that they "will not request earmarks, or the preferred euphemism of the day, community project funding," according to the Examiner.

Roy told The Hill that lifting the ban on earmarks all boils down to a "legislative bribery" for votes.

Former President Donald Trump in 2018 showed support for lifting the ban on earmarks, according to Axios.

The Center for American Restoration wrote a letter to House Republicans, arguing that policies in place like earmarks "aid and abet" the foundations of America such as freedom of speech, market access and information that is free flowing.