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Earmark is a dirty word, thanks to the famous examples of waste gone wild and the poster children for corruption in the appropriations process (former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, in prison for accepting millions to steer contracts and grants to defense contractors and others; former House speaker Dennis Hastert; current House power broker John Murtha, to name just a few).

But someone is going to decide whether to allocate money for projects, contracts or programs. Simply put, who is better capable of making good decisions: bureaucrats with no connection to local areas, preferences or needs, or people whose livelihoods depend on keeping close ties to those areas and the people in them, who will be directly affected by the decisions?

There is a strong case for Congress making such decisions--with a few qualifications. Congress should limit the amount of the budget subject to earmarks; build in adequate safeguards to prevent waste, fraud, abuse and cronyism; create enough transparency for voters, interest groups and executive-branch agencies to vet every earmark request. It would be preferable if, after the many earmarks are put together and voted on as an up-or-down package, the president could turn the spotlight on any remaining clunkers that escaped the vetting and force Congress to justify them via individual, separate votes. The reform package President Obama put forward takes us much closer to that point, but not all the way there.

The process would also be improved by each member of Congress forming a commission of local officials and representatives of business, labor, academia and others to come up with a detailed, public list of local needs in priority order. This would force lawmakers to justify any earmarks they propose that are low or not on the list.

Norman J. Ornstein is a resident scholar at AEI.