IFI’s US Congress funding: “I can’t believe somebody’s trying to bring this back.”

Will the efforts of two horsemen of the apocalypse congressmen result in the ‘earmarking’ of US Congress’ funding of the International Fund for Ireland?  The coup de grace on that funding was supposed to have been delivered some time ago… 

The Washington Post reports on the debate over whether the attempt by New York Reps. Peter King [R] and Joseph Crowley [D], who cite “diplomatic reasons” for their efforts, constitutes an congressional earmark – which are currently banned.

From the Washington Post report

In March, Obama signed a short-term spending resolution that included a handful of specific cuts, including one slashing $17 million for the International Fund for Ireland, a group that promotes peace and reconciliation between nationalists and unionists in the Emerald Isle. The cut marked a rare example of agreement between House Republicans, many of whom consider the program a poor use of U.S. money, and the White House, which zeroed out funding for the IFI in its 2011 budget request.

But some government programs, like horror-movie villains, are stubbornly unwilling to die, even after they’ve gotten the ax, and now Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) is leading a group of lawmakers hoping to restore money for the IFI. That effort has renewed debate not just about the merits of the donation, but also whether it constitutes an earmark — or perhaps an Éiremark? — and thus should be prohibited under the House GOP’s rules.

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.