When appropriators in Congress can’t determine where funds go, the president and his cabinet secretaries get to decide how to allocate the money. Earmarks were also the currency that gave lawmakers a reason to vote for bills that contained items the other political party liked, which encouraged bipartisanship: A member would tolerate something she didn’t like if she was allowed to benefit from the passage of a line item that benefited her constituents and therefore benefited her politically.
