By: Diane Benjamin

Earmarks are a way the elected officials in Washington DC claim to bring federal dollars back to their district. Often bills can’t get passed unless these “gifts” are tacked on to bills. House and Senate members tell leadership they will vote for some ridiculous bill is you give me X.

Earmarks were banned for a decade but Congress reinstated them in 2021. Banning them didn’t help the deficit spending anyway. Normal pays Cardinal Infrastructure to find federal money for them. It isn’t possible for Normal to live within their means, they survive on grants paid by people across the country. When Normal doesn’t have to pay for large infrastructure projects themselves they are free to spend your tax dollars on things like Uptown and the debt accumulated doing it.

The below is from the latest FOIA I received. Pam Reece sent an update to the Council that included this:

I wonder how many cities in Illinois know to submit their “wish lists” to Durbin, Duckworth, Davis, and Lahood? Does Cardinal Infrastructure have to be paid before they know to request earmarks?

Did you think about where your money goes when you filed your tax return this year? It filters through bureaucrats and paid lobbyists before being partially redistributed to the well connected. Normal is well connected, more photo ops coming soon for representatives who “brought home the bacon”.

This sums up earmarks: