House GOP joins Dems in earmark moratorium

In an election-year appeal to voters frustrated with Washington, House Republicans promised Thursday not to stuff any of this year's spending bills with pet projects for their districts.

The promise comes a day after House Democrats banned earmarks to for-profit companies, ending a practice that in many cases created a cozy "pay-to-play" culture involving lawmakers and businesses whose Washington lobbyists often use campaign donations to help assure access.

Earmarks send taxpayer dollars to projects in lawmakers' districts outside the competitive process required for other federal spending.

The House members' actions follow a House Ethics Committee investigation of seven lawmakers for taking campaign donations from those who benefited from earmarks. The seven were absolved of wrongdoing, but the two parties are seeking political high ground with voters unhappy with Washington and out-of-control spending.

The effort may run into trouble in the Senate, where many lawmakers have made clear they have no interest in House Republicans' self-imposed moratorium or House Democrats' ban on earmarks to for-profit companies. That could set up contentious negotiations later this year, when the House and Senate must combine their versions of spending bills.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., plans to schedule a meeting of Senate Republicans over whether to keep seeking earmarks. A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which hands out earmarks, McConnell supports the process.

The House GOP promise is a compromise between lawmakers who oppose earmarks, such as Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, and rank-and-file Republicans who had already submitted a round of earmark requests.

House Republicans promised a one-year pause in earmarks instead of a permanent ban. Boehner said Thursday that suspending earmarks shows Republicans are serious about fixing Washington.

GOP lawmakers signaled signaled the practice would likely resume next year, but with new reforms. The practice of earmarking is deeply entrenched and exploded when Republicans controlled Congress as leaders saw the money as a way to reward loyal lawmakers and help them keep their seats. But now, Republicans see a potential for big gains in November elections.

"We have a real possibility of regaining the majority, and I think a lot of members realize that we have to regain the voters trust somehow," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. "Earmarks are the most visible thing that we can do because we abused it so badly in the past."

Earmarks are easy to ridicule because they include such projects as the Lawrence Welk museum in North Dakota. But they have also gotten Congress into trouble by contributing to a "pay-to-play" culture in which campaign cash flows from earmark beneficiaries into the coffers of powerful lawmakers.

The spending is a small part of the $3.7 trillion federal budget. Last year's spending bills contained nearly 10,000 earmarks worth about $16 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington watchdog group. Existing rules require lawmakers to disclose the earmarks they request and who gets them, and any bill containing earmarks is accompanied by a detailed accounting of them.