Sponsors (3)
Last progress November 20, 2025 (2 months ago)
Introduced on November 20, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott
Referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
Directs the Senate to restore an immediate and permanent ban on earmarks (also called congressionally directed spending or community project funding) and calls for cuts to overspending to help reduce inflation. The resolution criticizes the return of earmarks in 2022 as leading to wasteful, rule‑circumventing spending and links such spending to large federal deficits and rising national debt.
Fiscal year 2022 marked the return of earmarks, also called “congressionally directed spending” and “community project funding,” after a 12‑year hiatus.
The preamble states the return of earmarks marked lawmakers using their powers to circumvent Senate rules to direct taxpayer dollars to wasteful projects.
The preamble notes that the Federal Government’s debt is now more than $38,000,000,000,000 and says Congress should fund programs prescriptively and effectively rather than focus on wasteful earmarks.
Since 2020, Congress has overseen more than $12,500,000,000,000 in deficit spending, according to the preamble.
Interest payments on the United States national debt have exceeded $1,000,000,000,000 annually.
Primary direct effect is on congressional decision‑making and appropriations practice: the resolution urges Senators to reinstate a ban on earmarks, which would reduce Members' ability to secure directed funding for specific local projects. Local governments, community organizations, contractors, and recipients that previously benefited from earmarks could lose a source of project funding. The resolution signals intent toward tighter fiscal constraints, which could influence future appropriations debates and spending priorities; however, because it is a nonbinding resolution, it does not itself change law or immediately alter agency operations, program funding, or state/local obligations. Taxpayers and the federal budget are the intended indirect beneficiaries if the calls to reduce overspending lead to enacted budget cuts and lower deficit growth.