The Heritage Foundation - Leadership for America

Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) stopped by the weekly Heritage bloggers’ lunch today in part to promote his Green Eyeshade blog at Townhall.com. Campbell is the House sponsor of the “Semper Fi Act,” which was first introduced in the Senate by Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to strip Berkeley, Calif., of more than $2 million in earmarks in response to a city resolution calling Marines “uninvited and unwelcome intruders.”

Campbell used the controversy to highlight the great opportunity conservatives will have in the coming years to change “the bipartisan culture of spending” on the House Appropriations Committee. In addition to supporting Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) for the vacant spot on the House Appropriations Committee, Campbell noted that six of the 29 Republicans set to retire at the end of this term are also on Appropriations.

Campbell argued that replacing these Republicans with conservatives dedicated to controlling spending would go a long way toward changing the “you spend, I spend, we all spend” attitude of current House appropriators.