By Cliff Saunders
During his meeting with Congressional leaders this week, President Donald Trump made a surprising suggestion about how to get Congress to be more productive.
And what was that suggestion? To bring back something that was banned in 2011; pork barrel spending.
“Maybe all of you should start thinking about going back to a form of earmarks,” Trump said, a suggestion that was responded with laughter from lawmakers on both sides.
But Merrill Matthews at the Institute for Policy Innovation tells KTRH it's not so farfetched; that it might 'grease the skids' for deals to get done.
“It’s harder for them to be able to make a deal now. Leadership doesn’t have the ability to say we will give you this, that, or the other thing if you will vote for this package,” Matthews explained.
So will suggesting something like this hurt Trump with his base? Matthews says that's highly unlikely.
“Trump once mentioned he could do almost anything and his base would still support him. That’s probably true,” Matthews stated, adding that supporters of earmarks say it allows Congress rather than bureaucrats the ability to decide how federal money is given out.