Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD-2) writes in the Baltimore Sun, criticizing House Republicans for prohibiting earmarks from three appropriations bills, including the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Other Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024 (Labor-HHS):
The foolish decision panders to extreme conservative ideologues who are hyper-fixated on a handful of earmarks that, last year, went to “woke” programs they disliked but, again, had demonstrable need and evidence of community support. That met the accountability standards we all agreed upon together.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/readers-respond/bs-ed-rr-earmarks-ruppersberger-letter-20230324-e7uhf3pch5b75g6z35bbhkp3fe-story.html
While specific earmarks may have fueled the fire, I believe this is more of a strategic decision by Speaker McCarthy to keep a bill that often has charged policy riders related to abortion or other social issues as “clean” as possible. This is often one of the last bills to come to the House floor, if it ever does. More often in the past, it has been bundled with other, more popular spending bills to provide political cover.
However, this year, McCarthy has pledged to move all appropriation bills under an open rule, allowing any germane amendment from any member. The no-earmarks decision for Labor-HHS is probably also an effort to simplify the process rather than face hundreds of individual amendments to strike objectionable earmarks.