Heller, Ensign back earmark ban; Reid says bad idea
WASHINGTON — As Republicans consider how to exercise their new power, Nevada Rep. Dean Heller said Tuesday he is in favor of banning spending bill earmarks during the Congress that will convene in January.
House Republicans set a self-imposed earmark moratorium in the session that will end with the post-election lame duck session. Heller is calling for the House to continue the moratorium into next year, and for the Senate to follow suit.
“The earmark process has become a symbol of the glut in our nation’s Capitol,” Heller said in a statement. “Congress must rein in reckless spending. This is why I will not request earmarks for the following fiscal year, and I call on all the members of the Nevada delegation to join me in this effort.”
Earmarks are special appropriations attached to bills by members of Congress, usually for specific projects in their home districts. They have been criticized as hidden pork-barrel spending that might not win approval if fully scrutinized.
Heller obtained earmarks in his first term, including $31.8 million in 2008, according to the Gannett News Service. But his spokesman, Stewart Bybee, said Heller now believes the fiscal landscape has changed and has become a hard-liner on the topic as he starts his third term.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has signed a Senate no-earmark pledge for 2012. He requested earmarks in a number of bills this year, but said he is prepared to stop.
“Nevada gets shortchanged when it comes to federal dollars returning to our state,” Ensign said. “But we are facing very difficult economic times that require difficult decisions to be made back in Washington. Reducing government spending across the board is one of the difficult things that has to be done, and this includes earmark requests.”
A spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the Senate has taken steps to curb earmarks and to make them more transparent. But his spokesman, Jon Summers, said a ban would hurt Nevada.
“As a smaller state, it is not in Nevada’s best interests to reject federal funding altogether,” Summers said. “Congressionally directed funding, or earmarks, brought more than $100 million for Nevada military projects last year alone. That’s on top of funding for roads, clean water projects in the rurals, and the Southern Nevada veterans hospital.”