US House reaffirms reforms on earmarks
Deal restores requirement to disclose all member-sponsored projects including the right to challenge projects on House floor.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the June 15, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 3
Washington - – After more than 20 hours of debate – or gridlock – the US House of Representatives had only made it to page 2 of a 76-page fiscal year 2008 Homeland Security spending bill.
That's why Democratic and Republican leaders cut a deal, announced Thursday morning, to end the impasse – and raise the standards of transparency and accountability in the House in practice, as well as on paper. The deal restores a requirement to disclose all member-sponsored projects, including the right to challenge such earmarks on the floor of the House.
The floor fight wasn't over how to secure US ports, protect borders, or ensure that first responders could talk to each other in a crisis – typical grist for a homeland security debate. It was over why Democrats hadn't listed earmarks in the bill, as they had promised when they took control of the House in January.
For Rep. David Obey (D) of Wisconsin, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, the issue came down to priorities. With 34,000 earmarks, it would have taken weeks for staff to "wade through" all the member requests, including eliminating duplicates and reviewing and reworking projects so that they are eligible.
"We chose to do substance over worrying about pork," he said, as the clock ticked toward 1 a.m. Tuesday.
Instead of fussing over "people's boodle," the committee held 224 oversight hearings to vet the Bush administration's spending requests, he said. When Republicans controlled the panel in 2006, they held only 117, he added.
But Republicans weren't backing down. Conceding their own past abuses – including members now doing prison time over corruption involving earmarks – GOP members insisted on holding Democrats to the standards they had previously announced.
RSS feed
