On the recordFebruary 7, 2011
The Orphaned Earmarks Act would rescind earmarks that remain 90 percent or more unused 9 years after being appropriated. In early January, USA Today published an article examining 20 years of earmarks that have not been spent. According to the analysis: "In at least 3,649 of those earmarks, not a single dollar had gone toward its intended purpose" and "Many of the orphan earmarks also count against a state's share of federal highway funds and have taken billions of dollars away from state transportation departments across the nation." During the past 20 years, orphan earmarks reduced the amount of money States would have received in Federal highway funding by almost $7.5 billion. That is $7.5 billion that States could have used to replace obsolete bridges, repair aging roads, and bring jobs to rural areas. In my own State of Alaska, $187 million in funding was lost out in the past 20 years because of orphaned earmarks.
