In first test, Congress narrows scope of ethics reform

More information is available, but key changes aren't being practiced behind closed doors.

from the October 5, 2007 edition

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Conservatives urge more openness

House Republicans and conservative activist groups rallied on Thursday to call for stronger disclosure requirements for earmarks. In June, House Republican leader John Boehner introduced a resolution to require that earmark reforms apply to all bills, including tax and authorization bills, so that they can be amended or challenged on the floor of the House.

"A lot of the promises of transparency just haven't come true," says Ed Frank, vice president of public affairs of Americans for Prosperity, which led a national campaign for earmark reform. "Their addiction caught up with their rhetoric. They find it's a lot easier to talk about getting earmarks under control than to actually do it."

In a letter to Sens. Reid and Dianne Feinstein (D) of California, Sen. Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina challenged how Democrats were interpreting the new law in the Senate. "While we have had numerous disagreements about the ethics bill, I believe we share a common desire to restrict the practice of adding earmarks into bills behind closed doors," he said.

In a Sept. 20 letter in response, Sens. Reid and Feinstein wrote that there are "sound policy reasons" for treating authorization and spending bills differently. "Stronger safeguards are appropriate when Congress actually spends taxpayer money," they wrote. "But when Congress passes an authorizing bill, it is simply expressing a goal."

But critics note that the most infamous earmark of all, the $223 million "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska, was attached to an authorizing bill, not a spending bill.

Some Democrats side with GOP

A wild card in the fallout over earmark reform is the role of freshmen Democrats, who campaigned on ending corruption in Washington. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D) of Missouri opted out of the earmark system this year because she says that reforms of the process didn't go far enough. In June, she and freshman Sen. Jim Webb (D) of Virginia voted with Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee to require that all earmarks in the Defense authorization bill be made transparent. That measure passed. She also voted against the Water Resources Development Act, because of the millions of dollars in earmarks added in conference. The measure was approved anyway.

"These deals are being made behind closed doors and stuck in conference, and that's just not right," says her spokeswoman, Adrianne Marsh. "If a public project isn't worthy of public scrutiny it's not worthy of being funded."

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