McCain: Fuzzy Math On Earmarks?

On ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) explained to host George Stephanopoulos how he planned to save the federal budget $100 billion: “Here's $100 billion right here for you, George. Two years in a row, last two years, the president of the United States has signed into law two big-spending, pork-barrel-laden bills worth $35 billion. That increases the budget, the baseline of the budget.”

That last line caught the Crypt’s ears, because it’s commonly understood on Capitol Hill that earmarks only designate already appropriated funds to specific projects, rather than outright add money to the baseline of the budget.

When asked to explain the discrepancy, a spokesperson for McCain provided this explanation:

“Regardless of how earmarks are used and whether they count in the budget baseline or not, they serve to take limited resources from high priority projects and instead force taxdollars to be spent to satisfy specific Members of Congress. One common practice in Congress is to resolve conference committee and other disputes by funding earmarks - which can result in breaking the spending caps in the process. Each dollar added in this way does not go away. Instead, it becomes part of the general funding pool for every subsequent year and increased by the rate of inflation. In this way, the regular practice of earmarking contributes to the bloating of the discretionary spending baseline.”