$1.5 Trillion Federal Spending Bill Sees Robust Return Of College Earmarks

The $1.5 trillion FY 2022 omnibus spending bill approved by Congress last week contains billions in higher education funding, including such big-ticket items as:

• a $400 increase in the maximum annual Pell Grant award to $6,895,
• an increase of $20 million for Federal Work Study,
• an increase of $96 million for strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and other Minority Serving Institutions,
• a $40 million increase for Federal TRIO programs, and
• significant increases in federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, which provide millions in research funding to university investigators.

But the 2,700-page bill, which combines the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government through the end of the fiscal year in September, is noteworthy for one other reason - it represents a robust return to the days of the earmarked appropriation, doling out several billion dollars for thousands of favored projects in lawmakers’ home states, including more than 200 for colleges and universities across the nation.

The full list can be found here.

Among the largest higher ed earmarks was $76 million for the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Medicine to build a new biomedical research building. Retiring Republican Senator Richard Shelby directed that request. Shelby was also responsible for an appropriation for the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, which will receive $50 million for an endowment to support faculty recruitment in science and engineering fields.

My former institution, Missouri State University, also received $50 million, thanks to two separate appropriations requested by retiring Republican Senator Roy Blunt for the renovation and expansion of Temple Hall, the university’s main science building. In addition, both Missouri State and the University of Missouri at Columbia will receive $3 million for their endowments to support faculty in health and life sciences.

Calling the federal funding a “game changer” for science education, Missouri State President Cliff Smart said, “With the money now allocated to Temple Hall, we can overhaul our STEM facilities. Temple, the home of our College of Natural and Applied Sciences, was built in 1971 and has not been substantially remodeled since then.”

Other large earmarks were received by:

• The University of Southern Mississippi for the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library ($20 million),
• The University of Missouri-Kansas City to expand the St. Joseph Medical School Campus ($13 million),
• The Medical University of South Carolina, for the construction of a hospital in Williamsburg County ($12.7 million), and
• Stony Brook University ($10 million) for a biomedical research network.

Community colleges across the nation also received a good share of the directed funding, often for workforce training, technology upgrades, and program expansions. As examples:

• Ozark Technical and Community College in Springfield, Missouri received $1.5 million to expand its existing health sciences and technical programs and $3 million for its Airframe and Powerplant Maintenance Training Program,
• Passaic County Community College, $1.95 million for workforce training and career coaching,
• Northern Virginia Community College, $5.1 million the Data Center Operations degree and certificate program, including equipment, and
• Macomb Community College, $2.6 million for health care apprenticeships.

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Historically condemned by critics as “wasteful,” “pork-barrel,” or “pet projects,” earmarks have been defended by proponents as “congressionally designated appropriations” that properly redirect spending decisions from D.C. bureaucrats to elected officials and that apply the grease that’s sometimes necessary to loosen legislative gridlock and get things done in Congress.

A series of embarrassing scandals (remember the “Bridge to Nowhere”) led to federal earmarks being banned back in 2011. Led at that time by the Tea Party, with some bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, the earmark ban has stood for a more than a decade, despite occasional talk of ending or revising it.

But with Democrats now in control of the House and prevailing ever so narrowly in the Senate, earmarks have finally made their comeback, and with a bipartisan vengeance.

As an indication of how the sentiment has changed, an amendment offered by Indiana Republican Senator Mike Braun to strip home-state earmarks out of the appropriations was defeated handily by a bipartisan vote of 35-64.

Almost immediately, legislators in both parties began releasing press statements touting the projects they sponsored in their states and districts. And justifiably so. The downstream effects of this spending will be considerable, adding more momentum to the nation’s continuing economic recovery.