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![handle is hein.crs/crsaawc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code 98-518 GOV
Updated December 7, 2004
CRS Report for Congress
Received through the CRS Web
Earmarks and Limitations in
Appropriations Bills
Sandy Streeter
Analyst in American National Government
Government Division
Earmarks and limitations are two devices regularly used in annual appropriations acts
to direct and restrict, respectively, the availability of funds for specified activities.
Sometimes an earmark or a limitation may generate more interest or controversy than the
appropriations act. See [http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/guidehome.shtml] for more
information on federal budget process.
Earmarks
There is not a single specific definition of the term earmark accepted by all
practitioners and observers of the appropriations process, nor is there a standard earmark
practice across all 13 regular appropriations bills. According to the Congressional
Quarterly's American Congressional Dictionary, under the broadest definition virtually
every appropriation is earmarked.1 In practice, however, earmarks are generally defined
more narrowly, often reflecting procedures established over time that may differ from one
appropriation bill to another. For one bill, an earmark may refer to a certain level of
specificity within an account.2 For other bills, an earmark may refer to funds set aside
within an account for individual projects, locations, or institutions.3
Regarding the latter use of the term, some of these earmarks are included in the text
of appropriations measures, floor amendments, and conference reports to such measures.
If enacted, these earmarks are legally binding.
1Walter Kravitz, Congressional Quarterly's American Congressional Dictionary: Third Edition
(Washington: Congressional Quarterly, Inc., 2001), pp. 87-88, available at
[http://www.crs.gov/products/guides/glossary/e.shtml], visited Dec. 6, 2004.
2 An annual appropriations act is generally made up of separate paragraphs, each of which
generally corresponds to a unique account and provides appropriations for multiple programs,
projects, and activities as a single lump sum.
' Such earmarks might also provide spending floors for individual projects, locations, or
institutions.
Congressional Research Service **o The Library of Congress](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.crs/crsaawc0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)