Read twice and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 3, 2011
Orphan Earmarks Act - Rescinds any earmark of funds provided for any federal agency with more than 90% of the appropriated amount remaining available for obligation at the end of the 9th fiscal year after it was first made available. Authorizes the agency head to delay any such rescission if an additional obligation of the earmark is likely to occur during the following 12-month period.
Requires each agency head to identify and report every project that is an earmark with an unobligated balance at the end of each fiscal year to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), who shall report a listing and accounting for such earmarks to Congress and to the public via the OMB website.
Source last updated: Nov 28, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.282 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.282 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.282 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.282 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.