Inhofe vows to actively oppose adopting earmarks ban

One of the Senate's most conservative members said he would actively oppose adopting a total ban on earmarks, similar to one adopted by House Republicans this week.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) told conservatives that he would oppose ending the practice of earmarking, as the Senate's GOP leader said Friday that senators would meet next week to discuss an earmark ban of their own.

"This action the House took, it's hard for me to understand why in the world they did it,"  Inhofe said during an appearance on the conservative G. Gordon Liddy talk show.

"If you are putting a moratorium on what they call earmarks -- or otherwise, what we're supposed to be doing in the legislature -- you are ceding that authority to Obama," Inhofe added.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters on Friday that the Senate GOP would meet on an earmark ban next week, after both Democrats and Republicans in the House took their own action on earmarks this week.

The chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), announced a ban on earmarks to for-profit entities this week, with the backing of House Democratic leaders. House Republicans went a step further, deciding in a closed-door meeting to adopt a yearlong moratorium on all earmarks.

Inhofe told the conservative Human Events magazine that he would act to actively oppose a similar ban in the Senate, saying he would "speak against it and make sure they understand what they’re doing.”

One of Inhofe's Republican colleagues in the Senate, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), has long sought restrictions on earmarking for senators.

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