While perhaps not strictly “earmarks,” it has been common practice for members of Congress to advocate strongly for Department of Defense spending in their respective states. Think…Bath Iron Works here in Maine.
Here’s a press release from Jared Golden, our House Representative, announcing his appointment to the House Armed Services Committee. It’s short, but worth a read.
I expect that we’ll discuss some of the following (and more):
- How should our representatives in the House and the Senate balance what’s best for their constituents vs. what’s best for the country overall?
- Is this a case where the House, by design, should contain ardent advocates for their constituents and the Senate with those charged with a more “national” view?
- If we accept that Maine’s representatives in Washington should advocate for us, how hard should they push? How much horse trading is appropriate, and when does it become too much?
- How do the power hierarchies of tenure and committee assignments affect the “one representative, one vote” concept?
- Is the system working well enough? Does it need some tweaks? (Like what?) Or is it entirely broken?
Since we’ll start with BIW as a case in point, here are a few short (free) articles related to our subject:
Maine Senators Push Back on US Navy’s Plan to Cut Shipbuilding
Distributed Shipbuilding for an Unmanned Fleet
As its term winds down, Trump’s White House plots a major naval expansion
Found something better? Post a link to it as a comment.
