The House budget that passed earlier this month increases discretionary spending by 8% (otherwise known as $74 billion) over this year’s level. Federal spending already tops out at near $25,000 per household and discretionary spending has expanded 45% since 2001. While increased defense spending for Iraq and Afghanistan do account for a share of that growth, non-defense discretionary spending has increased 28% under President Bush — nearly twice as fast as the rate under President Clinton. As bad as all the current spending in the House budget is, the tax …
House Republicans aren’t giving in to order from the chief administrative officer to remove a website devoted to earmark reform. The site, earmarkreform.house.gov, remained active today despite an order from Dan Beard last week to shut it down. House Minority Leader John Boehner is defying Beard’s order until he gets a formal response from the chief administrative officer, according to Roll Call ($). A spokesman for Boehner called Beard’s decision “contradictory” because it reverses his office’s approval of the domain name last August. At issue is whether the domain name …
A congressionally approved website devoted to earmark reform is on the verge of falling victim to a petty political fight on Capitol Hill. The House’s chief administrative officer, Dan Beard, today told Minority Leader John Boehner that the site, earmarkreform.house.gov, would have to come down because it doesn’t comply with House Administration Committee rules regulating congressional websites. Boehner is protesting the decision, questioning the timing of Beard’s decision and complaining that it amounts to a “gag order.” The site launched on Feb. 12, just weeks after a united House Republican …
House Republicans scored a significant victory in their war on earmarks today when influential Democrat Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, broke with party leaders to call for an immediate moratorium on earmarks in 2009 spending bills. I think our best approach would be to suspend all earmarks for the 2009 appropriations cycle while we consider the right reforms for the earmark process. As a result, I will not submit any requests to the Appropriations Committee for this fiscal year. I look forward, however, to …
House Republicans made a valiant stand on earmark reform today, falling just short in their effort to institute an immediate moratorium. By a vote of 204-196, the GOP’s procedural effort failed. Just seven Democrats voted with all Republicans: Reps. Joe Donnelley (Ind.), Tim Mahoney (Fla.), Baron Hill (Ind.), Brad Ellsworth (Ind.), Nick Lampson (Tex.), Nancy Boyda (Kan.) and John Barrow (Ga.). House Minority Leader John Boehner promised to carry on the fight. As Speaker of the House, Rep. Pelosi has the power to shut down the entire earmark process in …
Facing a potentially embarrassing defeat on earmarks tomorrow, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi finally decided to say something about Republicans’ request for an immediate earmark moratorium. In a letter to Minority Leader John Boehner tonight, Pelosi makes several misleading or downright inaccurate claims about the Democrats’ attempts to curtail earmarks. The letter arrived only after Boehner and Whip Roy Blunt promised a showdown over earmarks tomorrow on a bill to reauthorize a higher education program. Boehner and Blunt had grown frustrated by Pelosi’s unwillingness to even reply to their request for …
House Republican leaders were serious when they promised to hold Democrats accountable for ignoring the request for an immediate earmark moratorium. The first test will come tomorrow when Minority Leader John Boehner and Whip Roy Blunt plan to force an earmark reform vote on the higher education authorization bill. The legislation, which would reauthorize the Higher Education Act, is viewed by taxpayer watchdogs as a slush fund for colleges and universities. Boehner said it would serve as a good opportunity to put politicians to the test on earmarks. It’s become …
According to The Hill, while the Republican leadership has been talking a good game on reducing pet project spending, only leaders John Boehner (R-OH), Adam Putnam (R-FL) and Eric Cantor (R-VA) have voted for more than half of the anti-earmark amendments offered on the House floor since the 2006 election. Meanwhile House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) voted for just 22 percent of the amendments while Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) voted to eliminate only one earmark. Reading the story called to mind our little green friends admonishment to …
House Minority Leader John Boehner and his colleagues in the Republican leadership gave Speaker Nancy Pelosi a deadline of Feb. 1 to respond to their request for an immediate moratorium on earmarks. The date came and went without a word from Pelosi or her Democrat colleagues. But don’t expect to hear the end of it just yet. Boehner released a statement today attacking Pelosi for failing to take a stand against wasteful pork-barrel spending, which he said has become a “symbol of a broken Washington.” He said Pelosi could shut …
The Club for Growth has decided to keep a running list of lawmakers who have sworn off earmarks. Just yesterday Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, called on the House Republican leadership team, appropriators and ranking committee members to give up earmarks as part of Minority Leader John Boehner’s pledge to impose an earmark moratorium. So far, at least 10 House members have pledged to give up earmarks. According to the Club, they include: • Jeff Flake (AZ-06) • John Campbell (CA-48) • Jeb Hensarling (TX-05) • …
