Partisan Asymmetries in Earmark Representation

Partisan Asymmetries in Earmark Representation

This paper examines how Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives vary in their earmarking behavior. After a 10-year moratorium, Congress enabling members to request small grants for community programs in their districts in the 2021 appropriations process. As part of a reform de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Political research quarterly Vol. 76; no. 4; pp. 1794 - 1804
Main Authors: Cassella, Chris, Fagan, EJ, Theriault, Sean M.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-12-2023
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects:
Appropriations
Content analysis
Corruption
Districts
Expenditures
Grants
Infrastructure
Legislatures
Partisanship
Social groups
Earmarks
political parties
legislative studies
public policy
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Summary:This paper examines how Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives vary in their earmarking behavior. After a 10-year moratorium, Congress enabling members to request small grants for community programs in their districts in the 2021 appropriations process. As part of a reform designed to limit corruption and wasteful spending, members had to submit written justifications for the grants, which provides insight into how members of Congress view their role as representatives. In performing a content analysis on 3007 earmark justifications, we find that Democrats are more likely to name the specific social groups comprising their party coalition in their justifications; Republicans rarely do so. Democrats are also more likely to request grants on their core partisan priorities, while Republicans tend to focus on large local infrastructure projects that are seemingly unrelated to their national priorities. Finally, we find some, but limited, evidence that earmark requests are a result of the different kinds of districts that members represent.
ISSN:1065-9129
1938-274X
DOI:10.1177/10659129231175865