Businesses to Reap Earmark Benefits Despite Ban on Getting Them

Businesses could end up the big winners in the of return of earmarks even though lawmakers specifically limited funding for these projects to state and local governments and non-profit groups.

Many of the governments and groups likely to receive earmarks in spending bills and the massive infrastructure package are expected to use that funding to hire construction companies, consultants and other contractors to carry out the projects.

“There’s benefit here to a whole lot more than governments and not-for-profits,” Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in an interview. ”It’s all the people they ...