What does "Earmark" mean?

Question

What does "Earmark" mean?

Answer 1

special funding projects. Usually in a big spending bill, like for Iraq there will be some money "earmarked" for other things marginally or totally unrelated to the bill at hand

Answer 2

ear·mark  

ear·mark [r mrk]

vt (past ear·marked, past participle ear·marked, present participle ear·mark·ing, 3rd person present singular ear·marks)

1.  designate something for particular purpose: to select and reserve something to be used for a particular purpose

That money’s already been earmarked for upgrading the computer system.



2.  agriculture put an identification mark on an animal’s ear: to mark the ear of a farm animal with an identifying symbol, notch, or hole  

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Answer 3

Basically means something has been apportioned for a specific purpose. Specifically as it relates to government, it usually means specific funds or budget allocations for specific purposes.  

Answer 4

An earmark is federal funding for a specific project, usually at the request of a state. But it can also involve a lobbiest using a Senator to introduce a special project that works to their advantage or benefit.

It is added to a Bill going up for a vote as an amendment to that Bill. Often it is a trade off for voting on a Bill that does not have enough support to pass.  So the word comes from the clips they put on the ears of cattle, sheep or pigs to identify them.

Not all earmarks are bad. Some Federally funded projects are necessary when they are too large for a State budget to handle but serve a real need for either the state or the nation.

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May be something like a new levee system, may be a much needed bridge or road to an area etc.  But unfortunately far too many are "pork"projects which do not use the Federal funds wisely.

There is a big difference between a road to no where and a needed road for an area with inadequate access.  

A closely related term that is sometimes used is a Christmas Tree Bill.

This is a Bill that has so many earmarks added that it is comparable to a decorated Christmas Tree.

This can be the worst kind of bill because it needs so many special projects to pass that it probably was junk in the first place and adding a ton of earmarks only makes it worse.

Answer 5

It means:  Something set aside for a particular purpose.

Answer 6

its an added in clause relating to money. something like ok we will vote this bill in under the condition that this gets taken care of as well. generally not related to the bill

Answer 7

Yeah, everyone got the gist of it: money for special projects in a senator/representative's home state attached to an unrelated spending bill.

The term "Earmark" come from hog farmers using marks on the swine's ear to determine which processing plant they go to.  This is where you also get the terms "Pork", "Pork Barrel Spending" and even "Bring Home the Bacon".