Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Elsie Law's Daily Dose Of The Law: Earmarks Defined

According to Wikipedia: "In US politics, an earmark is a congressional provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees.

Earmarks can be found both in legislation (also called 'Hard earmarks' or 'Hardmarks') and in the text of Congressional committee reports (also called 'Soft earmarks' or 'Softmarks'). Hard earmarks are binding and have the effect of law, while soft earmarks do not have the effect of law but by custom are acted on as if they were binding.

Typically, a legislator seeks to insert earmarks that direct a specified amount of money to a particular organization or project in his/her home state or district."

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