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After a one-year break, earmarks returned to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (CJS). The four earmarks in FY 2018 constitute a 300 percent increase from the lone earmark in FY 2016, while the $280 million in FY 2018 is an increase of 366.7 percent from the $60 million in FY 2016.
$303,500,000 for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, a 427.8 percent increase over the $57.5 million earmarked in FY 2018. The cost of earmarks in the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (CJS) has increased rapidly in recent years. The six earmarks in FY 2019 constitute a 50 percent increase from the four earmarks in FY 2018. The $780 million earmarked in FY 2019 is an increase of 178.6 percent from the $280 million in FY 2018, and an astounding 1,200 percent increase from the $60 million earmarked in FY 2016.
COPS, which provide grants, training, and technical assistance to local law enforcement, was targeted for a $96 million reduction by President Trump’s FY 2019 Major Savings and Reforms. The RSC’s budgets from FYs 2018 through 2020 called for the elimination of funding for COPS.
In FY 2008, COPS received 680 earmarks requested by hundreds of members of Congress costing $245.2 million. In that same year, the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool awarded the COPS program with a “results not demonstrated” rating, which “indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing,” noting that the COPS program’s “long-term goals have no timelines or specific targets.”
This subpar characterization of the program corresponded with a significant decline in earmarks. Prior to FY 2018, the COPS program last received earmarked funding in FY 2009, when then-Rep. Luis Fortuno (R-P.R.) added five projects costing $500,000.
Earmarks for COPS have returned without any evidence that the problems identified in 2008 have been addressed. The FY 2019 earmark represents the third-largest ever allotted for the program, behind the $327.7 million in FY 2004 and $317.6 million in FY 2002. Since FY 1998, legislators have added 2,876 earmarks for COPS, costing taxpayers $2.2 billion.
$65,000,000 for Pacific coastal salmon recovery, the same amount earmarked in FY 2018, and tied for the largest earmark ever for this purpose. The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF) was established by Congress in FY 2000 to “reverse the declines of Pacific salmon and steelhead, supporting conservation efforts in California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Alaska.”
For the third consecutive year, President Trump’s Major Savings and Reforms recommended eliminating funding for the PCSRF. Elimination of the fund would allow the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “to better target remaining resources to core missions and services.” The budget also noted that programs like the PCSRF favor state, local, and/or industry interests, and are “not optimally targeted … favor certain species and geographic areas over others,” and do not direct funds to programs that have “the greatest need or potential benefit.”
The RSC’s FY 2020 budget also proposed eliminating funding for the PCSRF, stating that it was one of several grant programs that “do not provide significant support to the core mission” of NOAA.
Senate Appropriations Committee member Patty Murray (D-Wash.) has routinely pressed for increased funding for the PCSRF. A July 14, 2018 press release from Sen. Murray stated that she successfully restored funding for the program in the FY 2019 CJS bill after President Trump’s proposed elimination.
Since FY 2000, members of Congress have added 22 earmarks costing taxpayers $279.5 million for the PCSRF. From FYs 2008 through 2010, the three years in which members of Congress were required to identify their earmark requests, Sen. Murray added 575 earmarks costing taxpayers $779.5 million.
SOURCES-2019 CONGRESSIONAL PIG BOOK REVIEW, CJS,