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President Bush Monday unveiled new policies aimed at cracking down on congressional earmarks during the last year of his presidency.
The move attracted criticism from both sides of aisle as Democratic leaders pointed out that earmarks exploded under Bush’s watch as he worked with a Republican-led Congress. Some Republicans, meanwhile, contend that the White House has not led by example because it requests hundreds of earmarks each year.
Still, many earmark proponents were pleased that Bush opted not to cut earmarks from the omnibus bill that Congress passed last month — a move that had been under consideration.
White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters that Bush would take “unprecedented steps” to reduce the number of earmarks and reform the system that allows members of Congress to sneak the spending items into appropriations bills.
If spending items are deemed worthy, “Congress should debate them in the open and hold a public vote,” Perino said.
On Tuesday, Bush will announce an executive order “directing agencies to ignore any future earmarks included in report language, but not in the legislation, which is traditionally how they end up on the books,” Perino added.
The president was expected to threaten in his address Monday to veto any appropriations bill this year that does not cut the number of earmarks in half.
Following the White House announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chided Republicans for inconsistency in their approach to earmarks. She noted that House Republicans had considered a yearlong moratorium on their earmarks, but rejected that idea at their annual retreat, settling on requesting a bipartisan study of ways to reduce “pork-barrel spending.”
“I think Republicans have pulled their punch on earmarks,” Pelosi said in a pre-State of the Union conference call with reporters. “It looked like a very lukewarm approach. They want to beat a loud drum, but when it comes down to it, they want their earmarks.”
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