{"id":35390,"date":"2023-03-06T16:10:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T23:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rep-lauren-boebert-opens-the-door-to-earmarks-after-calling-them-wasteful-in-previous-years\/"},"modified":"2023-03-06T23:10:28","modified_gmt":"2023-03-06T23:10:28","slug":"rep-lauren-boebert-opens-the-door-to-earmarks-after-calling-them-wasteful-in-previous-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rep-lauren-boebert-opens-the-door-to-earmarks-after-calling-them-wasteful-in-previous-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Lauren Boebert opens the door to earmarks after calling them \u2018wasteful\u2019 in previous years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado
Colorado Republican U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert at the 2022 Western Conservative Summit on Friday, June 3.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At least one Colorado Republican is changing her tune when it comes to seeking community project funding, otherwise known as earmarks, as the budget process begins in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert shunned the process in the previous two budget cycles<\/a>, but said this time around, she will collect submissions for earmark requests.<\/p>\n

Republican Rep. Ken Buck remains opposed<\/a> to the use of earmarks, according to his office. GOP Rep. Doug Lamborn\u2019s office did not reply to questions about his stance on seeking federal dollars for community projects.<\/p>\n

Previously, all three Colorado Republicans eschewed the use of earmarks, even as the majority of their GOP colleagues used the process.<\/p>\n

A big change for Boebert, even if it comes with a caveat<\/div>\n

In a notice Boebert\u2019s office sent out, the invitation came with a caveat.<\/p>\n

While she is accepting submissions for projects constituents would like to see funded, \u201cshe is not committed to submitting any requests. Any requests submitted by the Congresswoman will be a targeted select few that have a substantial impact on Colorado\u2019s Third Congressional District with a federal nexus.\u201d They would likely be for projects such as infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Still, opening the door to earmarks is a change for Boebert who, in 2021 and 2022, wrote op-eds calling earmarks \u201cwasteful<\/a>\u201d and \u201ccorrupt, self-serving legislating<\/a>.\u201d However, after Boebert barely won reelection last year, the message from some voters in her district<\/a> was clear: They wanted a representative less vocal in political fights and more focused on delivering for the district.<\/p>\n

One other change from the past two years: the budget process in the House is now controlled by Boebert\u2019s own party, instead of Democrats.<\/p>\n

All of Colorado\u2019s Democrats have directed money to the state<\/a> through community project funding since the ban was lifted back in 2021<\/a>. And the newest Democratic members, Reps. Yadira Caraveo and Brittany Pettersen, also plan to submit requests this year, according to their offices.<\/p>\n

How the earmarks process works<\/div>\n

Like the previous round, each congressional office will be able to submit no more than 15 requests. (When earmarks were first brought back, House member requests were capped at 10.)<\/p>\n

The requests must be made in writing and there remains a ban on requests for for-profit recipients. Projects have to show community support, and Congress members have to publicly certify that they and their immediate family members have no financial interests in the project.<\/p>\n

This time around, the Republican-controlled House capped the total amount set aside for community project funding at 0.5% of discretionary spending, down from last year\u2019s 1%.<\/p>\n

It also added a federal nexus requirement, which means members will have to show in writing how a project is tied to a federal authorization law. And memorials, museums and commemoratives will not be eligible for the funding this time around.<\/p>\n

Additionally, unlike last year, there will be no earmark request expected for the Defense appropriations bill or the Labor and Health and Human Services appropriations bill.<\/p>\n

Colorado had several requests approved in the LHHS budget last go around, including millions in funding for a number of hospitals around the state, as well as rural health and nursing programs.<\/p>\n

Groups seeking funding will have to submit requests to participating congressional officers by later this month, with offices putting forward their final recommendations in April.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Previously, all three Colorado Republicans eschewed the use of earmarks, even as the majority of their GOP colleagues used the process<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35391,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[981,28,1304,367],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-35390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-3rd-congressional-district","tag-headlines","tag-republican-party","tag-u-s-rep-lauren-boebert"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35390\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35391"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35390"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=35390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}