How does an earmark get in the budget?
Here's the step-by-step process followed by Rep. G.K. Butterfield, a Wilson Democrat who requested $200 million in special appropriations this year.
1. Lobbyists and representatives of businesses and nonprofits drop by one of his offices and ask about earmarks. They are given a form to fill out. "That separates ... the eager from the less-than-eager," he says.
2. Staff screen the requests and present them to Butterfield. He then goes through the list and picks which ones he'll submit. "I look to see if it's meritorious, whether or not it serves the working families within my district and not special interests," he said.
3. Butterfield sends a formal letter for each earmark to the chairs of the 12 House Appropriations subcommittees, known as "cardinals." Starting this year, the amounts were then posted on his official House Web site.
4. The arm-twisting begins. Butterfield approaches the chairs and personally lobbies for his earmarks. In some cases, they ask for more information. Other times, they ask him to rank his requests. "They may say, look you're only going to get three," he said.
5. The cardinals and ranking minority members decide. In North Carolina, U.S. Rep. David Price, who chairs the homeland security, helped Butterfield get a new swimming pool for a Coast Guard station in Elizabeth City last year. "That helps tremendously," he said.
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