Right On The Right

Note from Justin: I extended an invitation to Republican Leader John Boehner to write a guest blog on this site about the important issue of earmark reform. I'm happy to report that he accepted, and this is his first post on ROTR. Boehner represents Ohio’s 8th District, which includes all of Darke, Miami and Preble counties, most of Butler and Mercer counties, and the northeastern corner of Montgomery County. He was first elected to Congress in 1990.

When I first ran for Congress, I made clear that I would not raid the federal treasury to fund pet projects within Ohio’s 8th District. I believe then, as I do now, that I am elected to be responsible steward of American tax dollars. Since I was first elected, I’ve watched the number of pet projects and wasteful spending grow at alarming rates. A clear example of this abuse is the House Democratic leadership showering their freshmen with nearly $237 million of earmarks.

Failure to control earmarks help cost Republicans the congressional majority in 2006. We’ve acknowledged this mistake, however, and are now recommitting ourselves to the conservative principle of reducing government spending and spending taxpayers’ money wisely and responsibly.

At our retreat in January, we invited our Democratic colleagues to join us in declaring a moratorium on earmarks and appointing a bipartisan select committee to identify ways to bring fundamental changes to how we spend taxpayers’ money. We also decided that we would immediately enact a series of earmark reform standards and enforce them within our Conference.

The Republican Conference asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi to respond to our invitation to join us in bringing about fundamental earmark reform by Feb. 1. She declined. Since then, House Republicans have forced a vote on the Floor regarding earmark reforms. Pelosi and the Democratic Caucus voted it down. During the Budget Committee mark-up of the Fiscal Year 2009 Democratic budget proposal, Republicans offered an amendment calling for a moratorium on all earmarks. Once again, Democrats voted that down. Democratic leaders even tried to shut down a website I set up solely dedicated to earmark reform.

But cracks have begun to appear in the Democratic Caucus. Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) announced that he would join Republicans in eschewing earmarks. And Wall Street Journal columnist Kim Strassel reported on our efforts to freeze earmarks:

“[Republican Leader Boehner] has spent the past two months pounding Democrats to agree to an earmark moratorium, even forcing a vote in a budget markup this week (not a single Democrat voted for it). The affair has left Speaker Nancy Pelosi red-faced, as she and her team struggle to justify the very pork they promised to rein in during the 2006 election campaign.

“It’s been embarrassing enough that even some in her party are refusing to hold ranks. California’s Henry Waxman, a powerful committee chairman, recently intoned that ‘Congressional spending through earmarks was out of control’ and announced he’d ask for none himself this year.”

“This sort of success has helped inspire some doubtful Republicans. At the recent House Republican retreat, several previous worshippers at the earmark church announced they were switching religions. Discussions have started between the McCain camp and the House GOP about areas on which to unify messages. Earmarks is a hot topic, putting spenders on the defensive.”

Under relentless pressure from House Republicans, Speaker Pelosi may now be considering an earmark freeze. At her weekly press briefing, she said: “My patience is running out on earmarks. We’ll have them or we won’t have them. We won’t spend a lot of time talking about them.”

It is my sincere hope that the House will vote as soon as possible on enacting a moratorium on earmarks. We’ve spent months talking them. Now let’s act and show the American taxpayers that Congress can be responsible in how we spend their hard-earned dollars.