Senate Gop's Earmark Death Panel ; Time to Pull the Plug On Pork

Summary

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The Tea Party's influence on the direction of Senate Republicans in the 112th Congress is about to be put to the test. Grass-roots activism helped swell the ranks of the chamber's fiscal hawks with several newly elected members who are fired up about banning earmarks. When the Republican conference meets tomorrow to consider South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint's resolution that would end the practice for its members, the outcome will demonstrate whether Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky or Mr. DeMint and the Tea Party have captured the heart and soul of the Senate GOP.

Mr. McConnell defends earmarks by claiming that the real issue is discretion. "You can eliminate every congressional earmark, and you would save no money," he told the Heritage Foundation. "We decide how much we're going to spend either when we pass a budget or in the case of this past year when we don't pass a budget, we produce a top- line for the discretionary spending. That top-line determines what gets spent." In other words, taking away the ability of individual members to direct money into their districts would be to hand President Obama a blank check to decide where to spend that cash.

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Senate Gop's Earmark Death Panel ; Time to Pull the Plug On Pork

This sounds plausible, but the reality is that eliminating earmarks would indeed save money - abo...

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