House Republicans Drive Earmark Reform Bill

For the past two years, House Republicans have called for legislative reforms surrounding how earmarks are provided to organizations. Yesterday, the House voted unanimously in favor of providing more accountability and oversight into the process, aiming to ward off the potential for corruption.

One of the most important pieces of HB-5039 is a reform which targets how earmark recipients were previously able to pass along funds to other organizations without approval, transparency, or accountability. Earmark recipients would also require prior approval and any organization who is receiving passed-along funds is subject to the same transparency requirements as the original earmark recipient.