(Bloomberg News)
(
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Senate Republicans yesterday agreed to stop tucking money for pork-barrel projects known as “earmarks” into bills.
The nearly unanimous vote was aimed at avoiding a rift with the powerful Tea Party movement and sending a message to the public that the GOP is serious about reform.
The Republican Senate Conference agreed to a moratorium on earmarks — which pols of both parties had used regularly to bring home federal monies — for two years and challenged Democrats to get on board.
“The sooner we get rid of earmarks, the sooner we can go to work on the difficult task of getting our budget under control,” said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
“I think it shows that this conference is serious about doing what it said we were going to be about — limited government, spending reduction, dealing with the national debt,” said Republican Sen.-elect Marco Rubio of Florida.
The earmark practice has come under fire as an example of bloated government — particularly to the vocal Tea Party members that helped propel the Republican Election Day rout.
The GOP caucus’ sole dissenter was Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Fox News.
“My belief is you stop the abuse. Having earmarks dropped in bills that no one ever got to vet is the real abuse,” said Graham said.
The moratorium the Senate GOP voted for is not binding. Any member of the party could buck the ban and try to funnel pork to their district.
Republicans are pushing to bring a vote to the Senate floor that, if passed, would officially ban earmarks and apply to Democrats as well.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid — who supports earmarks — said he is willing to allow a vote on a two-year pork ban to go to the Senate floor.
“I would be happy to work, to set up a reasonable time to have a debate on that and have a vote on it,” Reid said.
But Reid made it clear what he thought of the move, which only a few Democrats support.
“I think I have an obligation to the people of Nevada to do what’s important to Nevada and not what’s important to some bureaucrat with green eyeshades,” Reid said.
Opponents of the ban say it wouldn’t necessarily save money. They argue it would just hand over Congress’ limited control of spending to other government agencies.
President Obama has urged Democrats to limit earmarks, and recently encouraged his caucus to “reach across party lines” on the issue.
The Senate Republicans’ newfound aversion to earmarks is a move that is sure to leave the Tea Party clinking their cups.
Prior to the vote, some Republicans — including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran — had expressed reservations about the ban.
And in a surprise twist on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky reversed his longstanding support of earmarks and announced he was in favor of a moratorium.
“The abuse of this practice has caused Americans to view it [earmarks] as a symbol of the waste and the out-of-control spending that every Republican in Washington is determined to fight,” he said.