Kay Bailey Hutchison - Political Positions - Earmarks and Appropriations

Earmarks and Appropriations

Hutchison supports the practice of earmarking as a way to bring Federal government money to her constituents. Hutchison, through her assignment on the Senate's appropriations committee, has been influential in directing Federal funds to projects in her state. In FY 2008 and FY 2009, Hutchison sponsored or co-sponsored 281 earmarks totaling almost $500 million. In an interview with the Austin American-Statesman, Hutchison expressed her pride in the practice as a way to, "garner Texans' fair share of their tax dollars."

Hutchison's earmarks and appropriations have been criticized as pork barrel projects or pet projects by the non-partisan government watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste. CAGW recognized Hutchison's efforts by naming her "Porker of the Month" in October 2009, based on her extensive legislative history, in addition to her request for 149 such pork projects worth $1.6 billion in FY 2010.

Hutchison continues to support earmarks despite a moratorium called for by the Republican Party in both houses of Congress. She is a strong supporter of the Space Launch System, also known as the Senate Launch System, the single largest earmark in the Federal budget and possibly the single large earmark in US history. The SLS earmark has been opposed by fiscal conservative groups, including the Tea Party., as well as space-exploration advocacy groups. Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) has expressed "serious concerns with NASA's attempt to avoid holding a full and open competition to acquire the SLS." Rep. McClintock "stringly believe that such a de facto sole source award would be a violation of the 1984 Competition in Contracting Act." Rep. McClintock has asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate the SLS earmark.

Ironically, the SLS earmark primarily benefits the Marshall Space Flight Center, which is not located in Hutchison's home state. To fund SLS development, Hutchison supports cutting funds for NASA's Commercial Crew and Cargo Program, which would rely on private companies such as Space Exploration Technologies and Blue Origin (both of which have significant operations in Texas). Critics contend that building SLS would increase the cost of access to space and result in long-term cutbacks in NASA's human spaceflight program, based in Houston, Texas.

Immediately after the first successful test flight of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Hutchison issued a statement dismissing the value of SpaceX, which has approximately 10% of its workforce in Texas and is one of the fastest growing employers in the state. "This first successful test flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is a belated sign that efforts to develop modest commercial space cargo capabilities are showing some promising signs," Hutchison said. "While this test flight was important, the program to demonstrate commercial cargo and crew transport capabilities, which I support, was intended to enhance not replace NASA's own proven abilities to deliver critical cargo and humans to low Earth orbit. Make no mistake, even this modest success is more than a year behind schedule, and the project deadlines of other private space companies continue to slip as well. This test does not change the fact that commercial space programs are not ready to close the gap in human spaceflight if the space shuttle is retired this year with no proven replacement capability and the Constellation program is simultaneously canceled as the president proposes."

Citizens Against Government Waste has consistently opposed the SLS earmark as well. According to CAGW, "The private sector should be relied upon to fulfill the U.S. mission in space. If the U.S. has a requirement for a heavy-lift launch vehicle to carry beyond low-Earth orbit, there should be a new, full and open competition to determine the best path forward."

Other Republicans have criticized the SLS earmark, which has even become an issue in the Presidential primary. At a town meeting hosted by the Dallas Tea Party, Presidential Candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich criticized politicians supporting the Space Launch System, "I think it is disgraceful the way getting into space has been turned into a political pork-barrel. It’s an abuse of the taxpayer and an abuse of America’s future.”