Earmarks Cause GOP Rift

[Valin]

WSJ:

Some in Party Call the Spending Pork, Others See It as Check on the White House
NEIL KING JR.
9/24/10

House Republicans called earmarks symbols of fiscal decay when they swore them off completely in March. Candidates from both parties are now pledging, if elected, to never get near one.

But as Republicans prepare for a possible takeover of the House next year, earmarks have emerged as a point of contention within the party. The House Republican agenda, released Thursday, made no mention of these special spending provisions—a silence critics seized on as a sign that House Republicans plan to begin using them again.

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The debate is particularly hot among Republicans who have sought to rein in earmarks to prove their bona fides as cost-cutters. But many GOP lawmakers want to resume the practice, which lets lawmakers "earmark" legislation that can amount to billions of dollars for local projects, outside the normal competitive federal funding system. Some conservatives insist that earmarks are a constitutional prerogative that lessens the power of the White House.


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