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Frustrated by the Democrats’ response to their recent proposal, House Republicans will seek to force a vote calling on an immediate earmark reform moratorium on Thursday.
Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) announced Wednesday they would use a parliamentary procedure to end debate on the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) and bring the moratorium measure to the floor.
“The House is scheduled to vote Thursday on legislation that would reauthorize the [HEA] including part of the law known as the Fund for Improving Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), which many reform advocates argue is a taxpayer-funded slush fund for higher education earmarks,” according to the joint statement.
“House Republicans regret Speaker Pelosi’s decision to keep the earmark factory open,” the statement added.
Boehner and his leadership team have pushed a plan introduced by Reps. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Zack Wamp (R-Tenn.), which would establish a bipartisan panel to study ways to reform the earmarking process.
The announcement comes after a week after GOP leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) asking her to join them in a “bipartisan moratorium” and requested that the matter be discussed at the recent Democratic retreat in Williamsburg, Va.
But, not surprisingly, the economy and job creation was the focus of the Democratic retreat last week rather than making additional reforms to the earmarking process.
While defending the earmark reforms Democrats made since they took control of the House in 2007, Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said they would continue to improve the system this year.
“In one year, Democrats have instituted tough earmark reform rules that brought about unprecedented transparency, restored accountability to Washington and cut the total cost of earmarks in almost half after 12 years of increases under Republican control,” he said. “We have made progress on earmark reform… and we are open to continued improvements.” |
