McConnell feels the heat on earmarks

Senate Republicans, including lieutenants to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), are pressuring Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to adopt earmark reform.

The pressure puts McConnell in a tricky position. As leader, he must consider seriously the policy priorities of the party’s presumptive presidential nominee and Senate conservatives. But as a longtime member of the Appropriations Committee who has used earmarks to help constituents, he may worry about limiting his and his colleagues’ power of the purse.

{mosads}McConnell in January convened a special task force headed by Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) to recommend reform in response to mounting calls from GOP conservatives for action on the growth of federal earmarks.

Some conservatives suspect McConnell, who has touted his record of steering federal funds to his state during his reelection campaign, is not 100 percent enthusiastic about reform.

McConnell has held off conservatives who demanded that Republicans immediately follow the task force’s proposals. He has insisted on first negotiating with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in order to build bipartisan support for the reforms, which the entire Senate could then adopt.

But those talks have shown little evidence of progress, and some Senate Republicans are becoming impatient.

McCain’s closest allies in the Senate, Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), have called on Republicans to adopt the recommended reforms unilaterally.

“It would help our conference to march down the road of leading by example,” said Graham, who wants the Republican Conference to adopt the reforms for its own members if Democrats reject them. He said that should happen this year.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said Brownback, general co-chairman of McCain’s campaign. “It would put pressure on Democrats, it would be indicative of Republican values and the country would appreciate it.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), chairman of the conservative Republican Steering Committee, said he is prepared to force the issue when Congress returns from its Memorial Day recess.

“I’d like to have a conference to vote on it to show we’re all behind the idea,” said DeMint. “I’m certainly going to push for a show of support.”

He said he could call for a conference-wide vote on the issue with the support of a few colleagues. Senate Republican rules call for a conference meeting any time it is requested by five senators.

The Lugar-led task force has called for several reforms:

All earmarks contained in authorization, appropriations and tax bills must be disclosed in legislative text to close loopholes that allow some earmarks to circumvent restrictions.

Senators must disclose all earmarks and make them searchable on the Internet.

Senators must publicly disclose information for each earmark, such as the identity of the beneficiary.

Money saved from deleted earmarks would go toward reducing the deficit.

McConnell has said he supports the task force’s recommendations, but several Senate Republicans are skeptical as to whether he really wants to tighten restrictions on appropriators, given his tenure on the Appropriations Committee.

{mospagebreak}“I think most people realize the earmark task force was not a serious effort to fix the problem,” said a GOP aide. “It was simply a way for our leader to kick the can down the road and give Republicans cover to oppose the earmark moratorium.

“We now have the task force’s recommendations, but even its mild reforms are being slow-walked,” said the aide. “It’s becoming increasingly clear that he may not be capable of leading Republicans on spending, which is absolutely critical to regaining trust with voters.”

Critics of earmarks disagree with several of McConnell’s decisions. Specifically, they question his putting Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who secured more earmarks in 2007 than any other lawmaker, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), an outspoken opponent of earmarks, on the task force and requiring the ad hoc panel to agree unanimously before proposing any reforms.

{mosads}“It means there’s going to be a narrow field of things they agree on,” said Steve Ellis, vice president at Taxpayers for Common Sense. “Cochran and Coburn don’t agree on much in this area, so whatever they agree on is going to be small.”

Despite the criticism, Coburn has voiced support for the panel’s work.

“I’m very pleased to be a part of this group,” Coburn said when the task force announced its findings in April. “I would have wanted more, but we came to a compromise, and I think it’s a great compromise.”

Conservative critics also question why McConnell did not ask the task force to report its recommendations before the Senate debated the budget, when Republicans would have had a chance to force votes on various fiscal reforms.

If Senate Republicans do not adopt earmark reform unilaterally, it may put them at odds with their party’s presumptive nominee.

“I think Sen. McCain is going to make this one of the hallmarks of his campaign and he may end up running against the entire Congress on spending — and I say, more power to him,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas).

Several senior members of the Republican Conference remain staunchly opposed to the earmark reform. The inclusion of Cochran on Lugar’s task force did little to mollify critics.

“I think the attempt to change the earmark problem right now would just fail; it’s a waste of time in a presidential election year when it’s just one of the pin-up children of people who want headlines,” said Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the Senate’s most senior Republican and a member of the Appropriations Committee.  

“I think we ought to just get a copy of the Constitution and give it to every one of them and see if they can read it all the way through. They would then understand earmarks.”

Other Republicans recognize it’s a divisive issue in the conference and declined to say whether McConnell should move forward without the Democrats.

“I don’t want to get in the middle of it,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.).

McConnell said Tuesday that he is still negotiating with Reid over earmark reform.

“I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to reach some understanding,” he said.