Sen. McConnell appoints working group on earmarks

The top Senate Republican on Wednesday announced that a new GOP working group will tackle government spending and congressional earmarks, which have roiled Senate Republicans this year.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the fiscal reform working group would recommend ways for the Senate to bring about greater transparency and fiscal responsibility to government spending. The group will report findings to the Republican Conference by March 15.

{mosads}McConnell appointed one of the Senate’s best-known foes of earmarks, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), but not Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a vocal opponent of lawmakers’ pet projects who has sometimes clashed with party leaders on the issue.

DeMint, who praised McConnell for forming the group, was not asked to join the task force, according to a GOP Senate aide.

“I commend Sen. McConnell for his leadership on this issue … The American people want an end to earmarks and I hope this group begins to take us down that road,” DeMint said in a statement to The Hill.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) is the group’s chairman, and its other members are Appropriations Committee ranking member Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho).

A GOP leadership aide, who said the task force would have a wide jurisdiction, noted it includes members from the Appropriations and Finance committees, as well as a top reformer in Coburn. The broad membership is intended to ensure the best recommendations on earmarks are provided.

“Although we’ve taken steps in the past to reform the spending process, more can and should be done to restore the public’s trust and bring greater transparency to the way the federal government spends taxpayers’ money,” McConnell said in a release.