Senate GOP delays earmark vote

The Senate Republican Conference will wait until at least July to consider long-awaited reforms to the earmarking process.

The conference was scheduled Wednesday to vote on reforms that were first proposed in April by a GOP task force to make the process of inserting pet projects into appropriations bills more transparent. But due to the heavy business awaiting Senate action before the Fourth of July recess, and since some members wanted more time to review the recommendations, the meeting was delayed until next month at the earliest.

{mosads}"We’ve got so many other things on our plate," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a strong opponent of earmarks who sat on the five-member task force.

Some lawmakers and aides suspected that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decided against holding the Wednesday meeting because of objections by Republican appropriators, who protested such efforts as a threat to their constitutional prerogative of deciding where to direct federal dollars.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who is a critic of earmarks but did not serve on the task force, said he suspects that "appropriators did object and that it's not something they want to move ahead with." But he said he wasn't sure and hopes the delay was done so that Republicans can craft a bipartisan bill that has the support of Democratic leaders.

Don Stewart, a McConnell spokesman, said the meeting was delayed because of the crush to get legislation finished before the recess.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, an appropriator who is also a member of the GOP leadership, said she supports the task force's reforms. "I haven't heard there is dissension because I haven't heard exactly what's in it," she said.

The issue of earmarking has split the GOP conference, with conservatives characterizing earmarks as a waste of taxpayer dollars and a source of corruption, and veteran lawmakers saying they, not the executive branch, have the right to choose how to spend money in their home states. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP presidential candidate, sides with the critics of earmarks and says the ballooning practice paved the way for Democrats to take control of Congress in the 2006 elections.

The task force's proposals fall short of a moratorium sought by McCain but may appear to be too strong for supporters of earmarks.

McConnell is an appropriator but has been sensitive to concerns from both sides of the debate. He created a five-member task force in January to recommend reforms to the practice. In April, the group recommended that earmarks should be written into the text of authorization, appropriations and tax bills, rather than the report language. It also called for new ways to kill earmarks that add to the national debt. Coburn said that the plan was to implement all the task force's reforms just as they were written. The reforms would take effect next Congress.

The conference was expected to move to implement some of the measures unilaterally — without Democrats' consent — while also pushing for legislation that would need to clear the chamber.

One Republican, asking for anonymity, said that it was "sad that we can't even agree to these meager reforms."

J. Taylor Rushing contributed to this article.