FAIRBANKS - Alaska's two senior Republicans are steadfast in defending their use of earmarks, where lawmakers insert funding for pet projects into legislation, despite some polls showing it was a major issue for voters in midterm elections that put congressional Republicans in the minority.
Some commentators, including conservatives, have said the attempt to direct about $450 million to two bridges in Alaska last year contributed to voters' anger with the Republican-led Congress.
But Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young expressed frustration with what they see as a misunderstanding about the role of Congress in creation of federal budgets.
Congress, not the administration, has "the power of the purse" under the U.S. Constitution, Stevens said. When the administration proposes a spending plan, the legislative branch has the right and responsibility to adjust it, he said.
Critics, though, say that Congress should limit itself to adjusting broad categories of spending to reflect national priorities and let the administration carry out the details. A Wall Street Journal-NBC poll in April found that 39 percent of voters thought earmark reform was the single-most important thing for Congress to do this year.
"Congress must make systemic changes to help restore the public's trust and assure the American people that their elected representatives are here in Washington, D.C., to represent them and the best interests of the country, not campaign contributors and cronies," said the group Taxpayers for Common Sense in a bulletin earlier this year.
Congress should not be so heavily involved in picking specific projects that benefit specific institutions and companies, these and other watchdog groups argue.
The number and dollar count of such specific earmarks grew greatly during Stevens' tenure as Senate Appropriations Committee chairman, which began in 1997 and ended in 2004.
"Last year, taxpayers spent $32.7 billion on 15,584 earmarks in every congressional district in the nation," according to another bulletin from Taxpayers for Common Sense in March. "Compare that to just 2,000 earmarks in 1996 and the explosive growth in this practice becomes clear."
Stevens said many of his earmarks make up for the federal bureaucracy's neglect of Alaska, when compared to other states.
Congress ultimately repealed the bridge earmarks, but the state is still going forward with the projects using its highway money.
