John Boehner

House GOP: Cut Gov't Spending By 20 Percent Despite Economic Impact

Brian Beutler | December 20, 2010, 11:39AM

Mitch McConnell (R-KY), John Boehner (R-OH), and Eric Cantor (R-VA)

This week, Congress is expected to continue funding the government at current levels through early March -- at which point a newly Republican House of Representatives will get to take an axe to the federal budget. Naturally, they're promising dramatic cuts in non-defense spending.

"I don't know what's going to happen here today, or tomorrow, or Sunday in terms of how we keep the government funded," said soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner at his weekly press conference last week. "But what I can tell you is all you have to do is go to the Pledge to America and we outline pretty... clearly that we believe that spending at '08 levels is more than sufficient to run the government."

Cuts at that level would have an impact on more than departmental budgets.

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Harry Reid

After Spending Bill Implodes, Reid Schedules Vote on DADT Repeal

Brian Beutler | December 16, 2010, 8:49PM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)

On Thursday night, Senate Republicans killed must-pass legislation to fund the government, and forced Democrats to accept GOP spending demands to avert a federal shutdown. The development infuriated Democratic members and led to unusually angry, churlish exchanges on the Senate floor. But as a consolation prize for defeated Democrats, they'll have a real shot at finally repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Sunday evening.

After long deliberations with Republican principals Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced on the Senate floor that nine GOP members had reneged on their pledges to vote for the omnibus spending bill, which reflected months of bipartisan negotiations, and included earmarks benefiting both parties.

That left Reid several votes shy of the 60 he'd need to overcome a filibuster and essentially vaporized a year's worth of work by the Appropriations Committee.

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Earmarks

Attention GOP Porkers: Hatch Had His Earmark Requests Stripped From Spending Bill

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2010, 3:45PM

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)

Republican Senators whose earmark requests pepper the much-maligned omnibus spending bill are having a really hard time explaining how they went from requesting earmarks earlier this year to decrying the legislation... because of all the earmarks. But never let it be said that those requests were baked into the spending package before the anti-pork wave hit in November.

After the Republican caucus voted to impose an earmark moratorium last month, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) -- who's likely to face a primary challenge from the right in 2012 -- asked Senate appropriators to strip his earmarks from the omnibus.

"I did," Hatch confirmed to me this afternoon after a Senate vote, "because I decided I voted for the moratorium, and I thought 'well, I need to do that.'"

He's having an easier day than a lot of Republican senators who are having to answer charges of hypocrisy.

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Appropriations

Republicans Make Good On Threat To Force Lame Duck Spending Showdown

Brian Beutler | December 15, 2010, 11:25AM

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell

Before the midterms, conservative leaders were warning that they'd force a showdown over federal spending much earlier than expected: in the lame duck session, before the newly elected Republicans come to Washington.

They weren't joking. Republican and Democratic leaders are now engaged in a brinksmanship that could result in a temporary shutdown of the federal government. After the election, Republicans voted among themselves to eschew all earmarks for two years, and now they have to make good on their pledge. Yesterday, Democrats' chief appropriator, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI) unveiled what's known as an omnibus spending bill -- a bundled up package of appropriations legislation, earmarks, and other measures -- which would keep the government running for a year.

In response, most Republicans -- even those whose multimillion dollar earmark requests are included in the legislation -- are saying, "Hell no you can't!"

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Hal Rogers

New GOP Approps Chair Rogers Was 'Porker Of The Month' In August

Brian Beutler | December 8, 2010, 2:29PM

Representative Hal Rogers (R-KY)

Yesterday, House Republicans dealt the Tea Party and conservative advocacy groups a blow by electing Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) to chair the powerful Appropriations Committee next year.

Rogers is a famous earmarker, and a lot of critics see this as a harbinger that the GOP earmark ban might not be as ironclad as they'd like folks to believe. But just how much earmarking did Rogers really do? Enough to be named "Porker of the Month" by an anti-pork pressure group just four months ago.

Citizens Against Government Waste saddled Rogers with the award for "sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter's nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs."

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