Whereas fiscal year 2022 marked the return of congressionally directed spending and community project funding , also known as earmarks , after a 12-year hiatus; Whereas the return of earmarks marked the return of lawmakers using their powers to circumvent the rules of the Senate in order to direct taxpayer dollars to wasteful projects; Whereas, while Congress has the power of the purse, it must be prescriptive and effective in funding programs, projects, and activities of the Federal Government, which is now more than $34,000,000,0000,0000 in debt, rather than focus on funding earmarks that are wasteful in nature; Whereas the 118th Congress has reinstituted and embraced the wasteful practice of earmarking, as shown by the more than 5,000 requests for earmarks in the House of Representatives and the more than 19,000 requests for earmarks in the Senate for fiscal year 2024; Whereas Congress has already dramatically increased earmarking since its return, increasing from $9,000,000,000 for 4,970 earmarks passed in fiscal year 2022 to $15,300,000,000 for 7,234 earmarks passed in fiscal year 2023; Whereas the reckless, 1,653 page, $1,700,000,000,000 Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 ( Public Law 117–328 ) enacted in December 2022, appropriated billions of dollars to earmarks even though the United States is more than $34,000,000,000,000 in debt and experiencing the highest level of inflation seen in 40 years; Whereas the massive, fiscal year 2023 omnibus spending bill included funding for earmarks, including $3,600,000 for the Michelle Obama Trail in Georgia, $2,500,000 for a Chinatown arts building in San Francisco, $7,000,000 to fix staircases in the city of Pittsburgh, $12,000,000 for a pedestrian walkway in Vermont, and $3,000,000 for a theater and event space in Pennsylvania, in addition to other earmark projects such as botanical gardens in California, bike parking in Maryland, streetscaping in Connecticut, and a dance festival in Massachusetts