Boehner Making Good on GOP 'No Earmarks' Promise

Meredith Jessup | May 27, 2010 10:22 AM

House minority leader John Boehner yesterday sent a letter to Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar directing him to strike all Republican earmarks from the Water Resources Development Act reauthorization bill being drafted by the committee:

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) is asking Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) to disregard all Republican requests for projects in the Water Resources Development Act reauthorization he is drafting — even if the original sponsors have not yet withdrawn their projects.
“Pursuant to adoption if the House Republican Conference Resolution on March 11, 2010, we respectfully withdraw all previous Republican earmark requests ... for the Water Resources Development Act,” Boehner and Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member John Mica (R-Fla.) wrote in a letter Tuesday afternoon.
The House Republicans’ self-imposed yearlong earmark moratorium bars all earmarks — including those that are programmatic or authorizing requests. ...
Only a handful of Republican Members have said they will submit requests for earmarks despite the ban and have filed earmark requests with the House Appropriations Committee — including Reps. Anh “Joseph” Cao (La.), Henry Brown (S.C.), Don Young (Alaska) and Ron Paul (Texas).