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Reaction from someone who spent a few years studying earmarks:
1. First & foremost this will help Dems keep their narrow majorities together on big votes. Getting Manchin, Conor Lamb, etc. on board lefty bills is a lot easier if they can point to something for their voters. https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1361311221245476865
1. First & foremost this will help Dems keep their narrow majorities together on big votes. Getting Manchin, Conor Lamb, etc. on board lefty bills is a lot easier if they can point to something for their voters. https://twitter.com/JakeSherman/status/1361311221245476865
2. It's also a big win for marginal Dems in both chambers. Electorally vulnerable members of the majority party typically get a significant number of bonus earmarks; vulnerable minority members don't. And those earmarks help at the ballot box.
3. Earmarks are also good for separation of powers generally, and the legislative branch. Without earmarks, there was still lots of directed spending, but much of it came from the exec branch. Earmarks help keep the spending power with Congress.
4. Also, that directed spending taking place without earmarks was virtually untraceable (sometimes called "darkmarking"). A proper earmarks system which requires members to ID themselves makes directed spending more public.
5. On the down side, banning private corps. from earmarks won't help much. A corp. can just partner with a nonprofit to split an earmark; that's what happened last time. Plus it's not like there aren't unethical nonprofits out there who will do nefarious things with/for earmarks.
6. Which points to another downside - yes, there are problems with earmarks. There will be some scandals involving members using earmarks to make money, or other improprieties. The scandals will get lots of publicity, but for Dems the good of #1&2 (probably) outweigh the bad.
7. Unclear how many Republicans will jump aboard the earmark train. Earmarks don't directly help Reps win reelection, and in the last go-around several Reps were starting to abjure them altogether. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it this time.