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Some GOP
Senators Unlikely to Participate in Voluntary Ban
With Republicans' sweeping victories this month and talk
about wasteful spending always at the fore during an election year,
it is natural that one of the parties would try to gain the upper
hand on the earmark issue.
Since losing the majority in 2006, Republicans (and conservative
Democrats, most of whom just lost their reelection bids) have
attempted to identify earmarks as an important issue in tackling
deficit spending.
Congressional earmarks actually account for less than one half of one
percent (0.44%) of the federal budget, or approximately $16 billion
of the $3.6 trillion federal budget in Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10).
Nevertheless, the anti-earmark effort is gaining steam with Senate
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announcing his support for an
earmark ban in the 112th Congress. McConnell had recently
criticized this effort, arguing that doing so would be ceding
too much power to the Executive Branch.
His change of heart could be due in part to the President's weekly
address on Saturday in which he called on Congress to reform the
earmarking process to eliminate wasteful spending, but neglected to
outline details or call to eliminate earmarks, noting that "some
of these earmarks support worthy projects in our local
communities."
House Republicans attempted to seize on this issue earlier this year
when consideration of the FY11 appropriations process got underway by
enacting a ban to which most Members adhered. But the Senate
Republicans, under McConnell's leadership, were not interested.
The House is expected to continue its ban during the 112th Congress
while the fate of a Republican effort in the Senate could be a nail
biter.
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) is expected to offer a ban amendment on
Wednesday when the Senate considers food safety legislation.
The amendment is expected to contain a moratorium on projects already
included in FY11 bills, as well as future bills during the 112th
Congress.
If his amendment passes and is applied to FY11 bills, there would be
no chance that Congress could pass an omnibus appropriations bill for
the current fiscal year.
At the same time, a small group of GOP Senators [including
Appropriations Ranking Member Thad Cochran (R-MS), James Inhofe
(R-OK) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)] is trying to reserve the right to
pursue federal funding for local projects. Murkowski, whose
reelection write-in bid appears to have been successful, said about
the proposed earmark ban: "I don't think it is being straight up
with the public." She added that the ban would give a
misleading impression of taking on the deficit.
Potential 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate Senator John Thune (R-SD)
conceded that a ban's impact on the deficit would be negligible, but
described it as a symbolic victory for the American public.
If you have any questions concerning
these issues, please contact Chris Wagner at 202.772.0924 or cwagner@clarkhill.com.
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