House GOP Presses for No Earmarks in Post-Election Omnibus Spending Bill

By Republican Leader Press Office: House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other members of the House GOP leadership joined Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and dozens of other House Republicans yesterday in sending a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urging that no earmarks be included in the massive omnibus spending bill the Democratic majority appears likely to try to pass during a “lame duck” post-election session next month after the November elections:

“Earmark lists made available coincident with Fiscal Year 2011 Appropriations Subcommittee markups include thousands of earmarks worth more than $3 billion.  Due to the Republican earmark moratorium, all but the slightest fraction of these earmarks were requested by members of the majority….Taxpayers deserve to have appropriations legislation considered under an open and transparent process.  At a minimum, taxpayers should be protected from thousands of unvetted earmarks, produced by a process driven by a spoils system, being stuffed into any end-of-year appropriations measure and shielded from review.  Having made the decision to leave earmarks out of the final Fiscal Year 2006 spending plan, there is precedent for the majority taking such a step."

In a speech last week at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Leader Boehner said earmarks have become a symbol of the broken trust between the American people and their elected leaders.  He noted an entire lobbying industry has been built around the practice, and vowed to press for reforms that will "end the earmark process as we know it."

Boehner's comments were echoed by Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-IN), who also joined Boehner in signing Rep. Flake's letter to Speaker Pelosi.

House Republican leaders have also called for an end to the practice of passing massive "omnibus" spending bills, arguing such bills make it too difficult to cut spending and too easy to shield spending projects from public scrutiny and debate.  The GOP Pledge to America, which emphasizes the need to stop the job-killing spending spree in Washington, calls for immediate action on billions of dollars in spending cuts and a series of congressional reforms that would help fight unnecessary spending.

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Tags: US House, Republicans, GOP, stopping earmarks, earmarks, Democrat, Omnibus Spending bill, Lame Duck, post-election To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!