A proposed crackdown on congressional earmarks may leave some minority-serving institutions, as well as traditionally White colleges, with less money this year.
Top U.S. House and Senate Democrats say they want a one-year moratorium on earmarks — the pet projects lawmakers insert into federal government spending bills. The pork barrel projects have come under increasing criticism as an example of federal spending grown out of control. Critics point to projects such as Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere” as an example of this excess, although colleges and universities also benefit when lawmakers insert pet projects for colleges that are funded without peer review.
“We will place a moratorium on all earmarks until a reformed process is put into place,” said a joint statement from U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and U.S. Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., chairmen of the Senate and House Appropriations Committees, respectively.
If Democrats follow through with their plan, as expected, the plan would hurt large public research institutions with full-time lobbyists in the nation’s capital. But it also would harm smaller historically Black institutions, says Dr. Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland.
“It is an issue, particularly for HBCUs,” Walters told Diverse. “This is the way a lot of funding goes to colleges and universities.”
An examination of proposed 2007 budget bills sheds some light on the moratorium’s potential impact. In the House, the Appropriations Committee approved a 2007 education bill last summer with several hundred earmarks for higher education. Since the bill never gained approval from the full House or Senate, the projects have yet to receive funding. However, several earmarks involve HBCUs or initiatives for minority students. Projects in that now stalled bill:
· $300,000 to Albany State University in Georgia to increase college success for minority males and non-traditional students;
