The President has directed agencies not to accept earmarks from Congress unless they are encoded in statute. I’m not sure what percentage of earmarks are just strong-armed in by Congress critters, (vs officially appropriated), but Sens DeMint and Colburn and Rep. Flake seem to think this is a good thing, so I’ll defer to their judgement.

I will say this, Mr. President: It would have been nice if you did this before we lost the majority in Congress.