President's New Limits On Earmarks May Affect Religious Groups

Last week, President Bush signed an Executive Order titled Protecting American Taxpayers From Government Spending on Wasteful Earmarks (full text). It provides that future earmaks contained in committee reports, and not in statutory language, will be ignored unless the federal agency involved decides under merit-based standards that the earmarked project is the best expenditure of taxpayer dollars. Members of Congress may express their views in this process, but their comments will be made avaialble on the Internet for public examination. (White House Fact Sheet.) The White House says that these changes are directed at wasteful and excessive pork-barrel spending. The Executive order may have a significant impact on religious groups. A study last year by the New York Times found that between 1989 and January 2007, Congress approved nearly 900 earmarks for religious groups, totaling more than $318 million. Yesterday's Kansas City Star reports on $2 million in earmarks in the 2008 appropriations bill for World Impact, a Christian group that conducts outreach programs directed at the urban poor.