Funding Requests

Each year my office receives numerous requests for earmarks in the annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government. We receive these requests from local elected officials like mayors and county commissioners, as well as from the Office of the Governor. Other requests come from North Carolina’s universities, law enforcement agencies, non-profit organizations, and local businesses.

Earmarked appropriations usually specify that funds appropriated for a general purpose include a specific project. As an example, in my first term I secured a specific appropriation for research at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Moses Cone Hospital on which patients developed certain diseases and how those patients responded to different treatments based on the patients’ genetics. That appropriation was part of a larger, more general appropriation for medical research. Spending levels for all the annual appropriations bills are set before Congress adds any earmarks to a bill. What earmarking does do, however, is take the power to decide how a portion of federal money is spent away from the federal government’s bureaucracy and places it back in the hands of elected members of Congress.

There is nothing new about the idea that Congress ought to have a say in how their constituents' money is spent. It says so in the Constitution.

The power to direct spending, of course, comes with a duty to ensure that your money is spent wisely, prudently, and on projects that are in your interest. Like you, I am troubled when this process is abused by special interests. As the Chairman of the Science Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, I have had the opportunity to shed light on and put an end to earmarks that did not pass the smell test.

This is a responsibility I take very, very seriously.

My office judges earmark requests based upon the demonstrated, measurable improvements in health, education, safety, quality of life, or economic benefits that will result from the project, for this congressional district, and for the country.

I was born and raised in North Carolina, and I have represented North Carolina in Congress for the past six years. It is my job to know what our community does and does not need from the federal government as well as the federal government’s employees in Washington who otherwise would decide how to allocate general appropriations to specific local projects. As long as members have the opportunity to have this say in what our government spends, I will listen to folks that ask for help and use good judgment to vet those requests.

This year, I am posting on my website; a complete list of the earmarks I am supporting in this year’s spending bills, so that you can see exactly which projects I request. Even if we do not agree on the merits of every project, I think we can all agree there is a need for greater transparency in the earmarking process, and it is something I welcome.

Brad Miller
Member of Congress