To the Editor:

Re “Trump’s Idea for Unclogging Congress: Pork” (front page, Jan. 11):

My organization, Taxpayers for Common Sense, coined the term “bridge to nowhere,” referring to a bridge in Alaska, never built, that became a symbol of pork-barrel spending.

We created databases for all earmarks in all appropriations bills from 2003 until the earmark moratorium in 2010, even before Congress created a system of disclosure.

We saw trends as well as specific patterns of favoritism and instances of self-dealing. But we saw no evidence that earmarks were critical to make legislative progress. The last time all appropriations bills were passed in regular order and on time precedes the explosive growth of earmarks.

Earmarks sound like a quick fix, but bringing them back would relaunch a pay-to-play system that picks winners and losers based on political muscle rather than on project merit.

So no, Mr. President, Congress does not need to bring earmarks back to Washington.