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As midterm elections roll close, House Republicans have pledged to quit loading spending bills with pet projects for their district.
GOP leader John Boehner said Thursday that putting a one-year moratorium on earmarks shows that Republicans are taking an approach to fix the free-spending ways in Washington. In their news conference, however, they did not offer any specifics to earmark reform.
In press releases issued Thursday, members of the Kansas Republican delegation expressed support for the proposal.
“It is good that House Republicans have joined together today to ban all earmarks,” said U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. “Spending is occurring at an alarming rate – our country is broke. This is a step to ending business as usual in Washington, D.C.”
Earlier, Moran joined more than 30 House members, including fellow Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, in demanding Republican leadership consider a year-long ban on all earmarks. Though there was significant opposition, the House Republican Conference voted today to ban all earmarks for its members.
The House’s leading advocate for earmark reform, Congressman Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said in a press release that, “Given our fiscal record while we were in the majority, I don’t blame taxpayers for not trusting Republicans again with the federal purse strings. But there’s no better way to demonstrate that we have seen the error of our way than to impose a moratorium on earmarks this year.”
Other members of the Kansas GOP delegation in the House joined Moran in praising the proposal.
“In this time of trillion-dollar debts, trillion-dollar bailouts and trillion-dollar tax increase proposals, taxpayers want Congress to stop the wasteful spending,” said U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan. “Today’s move by the House GOP takes us a step closer toward implementing comprehensive earmark accountability for authorizing and appropriations committees. We now need to convince congressional Democrats and the Obama administration to do the same.”
Tiahrt is the lead sponsor of a comprehensive earmark accountability bill supported by Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Prosperity. The Earmark Reform Concurrent Resolution (H. Con. Res. 201) was introduced by Tiahrt and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) on Oct. 15, 2009.
Jenkins, R-Kan. said that her reasoning for supporting the measure was simple — to fill a campaign promise she made to voters in the last election.
“Over the past year, Kansans and folks around the nation have stepped up to take back their government,” Jenkins said. “I have heard their message, and I will continue fighting to protect Kansans’ hard-earned tax dollars and to ensure our children and grandchildren are not buried under an enormous mountain of this generation’s debt.”
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140
As midterm elections roll close, House Republicans have pledged to quit loading spending bills with pet projects for their district.
GOP leader John Boehner said Thursday that putting a one-year moratorium on earmarks shows that Republicans are taking an approach to fix the free-spending ways in Washington. In their news conference, however, they did not offer any specifics to earmark reform.
In press releases issued Thursday, members of the Kansas Republican delegation expressed support for the proposal.
“It is good that House Republicans have joined together today to ban all earmarks,” said U.S. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. “Spending is occurring at an alarming rate – our country is broke. This is a step to ending business as usual in Washington, D.C.”
Earlier, Moran joined more than 30 House members, including fellow Kansas Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins, in demanding Republican leadership consider a year-long ban on all earmarks. Though there was significant opposition, the House Republican Conference voted today to ban all earmarks for its members.
The House’s leading advocate for earmark reform, Congressman Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said in a press release that, “Given our fiscal record while we were in the majority, I don’t blame taxpayers for not trusting Republicans again with the federal purse strings. But there’s no better way to demonstrate that we have seen the error of our way than to impose a moratorium on earmarks this year.”
Other members of the Kansas GOP delegation in the House joined Moran in praising the proposal.
“In this time of trillion-dollar debts, trillion-dollar bailouts and trillion-dollar tax increase proposals, taxpayers want Congress to stop the wasteful spending,” said U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Kan. “Today’s move by the House GOP takes us a step closer toward implementing comprehensive earmark accountability for authorizing and appropriations committees. We now need to convince congressional Democrats and the Obama administration to do the same.”
Tiahrt is the lead sponsor of a comprehensive earmark accountability bill supported by Americans for Tax Reform and Americans for Prosperity. The Earmark Reform Concurrent Resolution (H. Con. Res. 201) was introduced by Tiahrt and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) on Oct. 15, 2009.
Jenkins, R-Kan. said that her reasoning for supporting the measure was simple — to fill a campaign promise she made to voters in the last election.
“Over the past year, Kansans and folks around the nation have stepped up to take back their government,” Jenkins said. “I have heard their message, and I will continue fighting to protect Kansans’ hard-earned tax dollars and to ensure our children and grandchildren are not buried under an enormous mountain of this generation’s debt.”
Matthew Clark can be reached at matthew.clark@morningsun.net or at 620-231-2600, Ext. 140
