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A group of House Republican appropriators will unveil a measure Thursday that seeks to establish a bicameral bipartisan committee that will study and make recommendations on how the earmark system should be reformed.
The resolution, which is backed by Reps. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.), Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), John Culberson (R-Texas), Virgil Goode (R-Va.) and Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), calls for the committee to be comprised of 16 members, four from both parties on the House and Senate side.
Among its list of duties would be to examine the earmarking practices of the legislative and the executive branches and to hold five public hearings on earmark reform.
Once its research is completed, the Earmark Reform Joint Select Committee would provide a comprehensive study to the House and Senate leadership with suggestions on how the system can be reformed.
The resolution stipulates that no earmarks will be considered in either body until the study is completed.
Wamp, who presented the idea to the conservative Republican Study Committee Wednesday, said that he and his fellow appropriators were dissatisfied with the current system, which, he charged, has failed to generate any reform.
“The system needs to be totally turned on its head,” he said. “A select committee is needed to get this done.”
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