Congressionally Designated Spending and Community Funding Projects

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The practice of appropriating funds in the federal budget for local projects is done through processes called "Congressionally Designated Spending" (as it is called in the United States Senate) and "Community Project Funding" (as it is called in the House of Representatives). This process is informally referred to as "earmarks" as it allows members of Congress to make requests to their respective Congressional Appropriations Committees, or "earmarks" in the federal budget, for funding specific projects for State, Local, and Tribal governments, as well as certain nonprofit organizations. If successful, earmarks may be included in the federal budget and may ultimately be provided for those designated projects. Congress had suspended the practice of allowing members to submit budget earmark requests; however in recent years, resuming with federal fiscal year 2022 (FY 22), Congress resurrected the practice.

Each year, before the federal budget is developed, during budget cycles when the parties agree that earmarks may be provided, earmark projects are solicited by members of both the Senate and House and selected for earmarking. Del Norte County has been the fortunate recipient of several earmarks in recent years that have been used for locally beneficial purposes. Below is a summary of recent and current earmark requests identified by the Board of Supervisors for federal investment of County projects.

Fiscal Year 2025 Requests: