Have House Republicans gotten religion?
House Republicans Urge Earmark Moratorium
By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times
WASHINGTON —House Republicans called on Friday for “an immediate moratorium” on earmarking money for pet projects. They urged Democrats to join them in establishing a bipartisan panel to set strict new standards for such spending.
As an interim step, House Republican leaders said, they will insist that all House Republicans follow standards to eliminate “wasteful pork-barrel spending.”
Republicans set forth their intentions in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The letter reflects a fragile consensus reached Friday after more than two hours of impassioned debate among House Republicans, who met behind closed doors at their annual conference at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Democrats won control of the House in 2006 with promises to end the Republican “culture of corruption.” House Republican leaders hope to seize the initiative on the issue, which they believe resonates with millions of voters.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, declined to comment on the Republican proposals. But he said, “Democrats adopted the toughest earmark reform in the history of Congress” and reduced the number of earmarks last year.
(Continued here.)
By ROBERT PEAR
New York Times
WASHINGTON —House Republicans called on Friday for “an immediate moratorium” on earmarking money for pet projects. They urged Democrats to join them in establishing a bipartisan panel to set strict new standards for such spending.
As an interim step, House Republican leaders said, they will insist that all House Republicans follow standards to eliminate “wasteful pork-barrel spending.”
Republicans set forth their intentions in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The letter reflects a fragile consensus reached Friday after more than two hours of impassioned debate among House Republicans, who met behind closed doors at their annual conference at the Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Democrats won control of the House in 2006 with promises to end the Republican “culture of corruption.” House Republican leaders hope to seize the initiative on the issue, which they believe resonates with millions of voters.
Nadeam Elshami, a spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, declined to comment on the Republican proposals. But he said, “Democrats adopted the toughest earmark reform in the history of Congress” and reduced the number of earmarks last year.
(Continued here.)
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1 Comments:
NO – it’s an election year gimmick.
From Thursday’s Roll Call Senate Republicans outlined a modest election-year agenda Wednesday based on the cooperative, bipartisan approach that new Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) has pushed while avoiding issues like immigration and earmark reform that have caused rifts within the party.
[SNIP]
Republican leaders … made it clear during the retreat that they would not support any effort by President Bush to strip earmarks from this year’s omnibus bill and saw no need to overhaul the practice … arguing any move {by Bush} to eliminate the earmarks would be an inappropriate infringement on Congress’ authority to appropriate funding.
[SNIP]
A Senator attending the retreat said later, "to the extent that the floor was open I didn't hear much opposition... I kept expecting to hear someone say 'yeah but earmarks are evil,' but I didn't."
Further, the Washington Examiner writes “House Republican Whip Roy Blunt R-MO, has reportedly warned administration officials that meddling with earmarks will anger GOP members who are responsible for 40 percent of those in the 2008 spending bills.”
Now the Senate and the House may have different philosophies, but I don’t believe that there will be truly any termination … but recent activist John Kline will try to make the most of it. Read more here
Jack Kingston (R-GA) has introduced House RESOLUTION 263 in November and it now has 99 co-sponsors (Bachmann and Kline but NOT Ramstad or Blount) which would call for a six month moratorium on earmarks … what a joke … we have a Fiscal Year … all the money gets authorized at year end, so what would 6 months due ?
I plan to write a commentary on this charade later.
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