McConnell: Earmark ban won’t save any money
By Alexander Bolton - 11/07/10 12:19 PM ET
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) said he and his Republican colleagues will discuss an earmark ban when Congress returns to Washington but gave scant support to the proposal.
McConnell, who has voted in the past for a Senate-wide earmark moratorium, is skeptical about banning earmarks just within the Senate GOP conference.
“The problem is it doesn’t save any money,” McConnell said during a Sunday interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
McConnell takes a different view of the issue than House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) and some Tea Party-backed candidates who won election to Congress.
He said the debate would come up within the conference the week after next.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), an outspoken proponent of an earmarks ban, is confident he has the votes to implement it within his conference, according to aides.
McConnell, a longtime member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that President Obama supports an earmark moratorium in Congress because it will give the administration more control over spending decisions.
Obama urges earmark elimination in weekly addressI agree with those Republican and Democratic members of Congress who’ve recently said that in these challenging days, we can’t afford what are called earmarks. These are items inserted into spending bills by members of Congress without adequate review.
Now, some of these earmarks support worthy projects in our local communities. But many others do not. We can’t afford Bridges to Nowhere like the one that was planned a few years back in Alaska. Earmarks like these represent a relatively small part of overall federal spending. But when it comes to signaling our commitment to fiscal responsibility, addressing them would have an important impact.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/13/920197/-Obama-urges-earmark-elimination-in-weekly-address Senate GOP Leader McConnell endorses earmark ban11/15/10
WASHINGTON — The top Republican in the Senate has reversed course and endorsed a moratorium on pork-barrel projects known as "earmarks." Those are special funding requests lawmakers slip into legislation for home-state projects.
Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell says he's heeding the message voters sent in elections that swept Democrats from power in the House. He says he can't accuse Democrats of failing to ignore the wishes of the American people and then be guilty of the same thing.
McConnell's move gives tea party activists a win and heads off a battle with conservatives in his own party in the Senate. House GOP leaders had already endorsed a ban on the practice.
McConnell, a member of the Appropriations Committee, is a longtime defender of earmarking.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40199100/ns/politics/ 
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