Earmark Question

[krazy kaju]

What exactly can a Congressman appropriate money for in an earmark? As a Congressman, could I possibly buy thousands of educational and libertarian books for local schools (e.g. Economics for Real People and Atlas Shrugged)? Could I offer some kind of school vouchers to my constituents? Could I pay my constitutents money directly, a la the negative income tax?

[nate895]

You could do everything in your post but the last one. Good luck getting them passed in Congress, though.

[krazy kaju]

I'm not proposing an actual income tax, but say, giving everyone in my district $1000 in installments. I could stick in $100 for each constituent in various bills, for example.

[nate895]

I'm not proposing an actual income tax, but say, giving everyone in my district $1000 in installments. I could stick in $100 for each constituent in various bills, for example.

I can't see how you could do that.

[dannno]

I think congress votes on the earmarks, which is the most ironic part. So no, I doubt they'd vote for anything that would undermine their power like libertarian literature, etc.

[krazy kaju]

Well I was thinking something along the lines of $10,000 to local high schools for bettering economic teaching by purchasing "Economics for Real People" and "The Concise Guide to Economics." Sounds like a great thing. Don't you want your children to learn more about economics? :-p

[dannno]

Ya his constituents probably get pretty creative, or they should.