House GOP earmarks motion falls short again

House Republicans continued on Wednesday to make sure that their push for an earmark moratorium is not forgotten by adhering to a familiar motto: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

The earmark resolution introduced by Reps. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Zach Wamp (R-Tenn.) has been brought to the floor twice and was also included in the GOP budget proposal.

{mosads}On Wednesday, another effort to pass the earmark measure failed, as Democrats tabled the motion, 215-199, during the floor debate on reauthorization legislation aimed at combating AIDS.

The nine Democrats who crossed party lines on the vote were Reps. Jason Altmire (Pa.), John Barrow (Ga.), Melissa Bean (Ill.), Nancy Boyda (Kan.), Joe Donnelly (Ind.), Brad Ellsworth (Ind.), Baron Hill (Ind.), Nick Lampson (Texas) and Jim Marshall (Ga.).

“There are only two people getting press,” Kingston said, referring to the race for the Democratic nomination between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.). “For anything to get reported in the House you have to do it over and over again.”

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) agreed and indicated House Republicans will continue to bring the measure up on the floor through procedural votes.

 Blunt said that the GOP would continue to press Democrats to adopt the same earmark restrictions accepted by the Republican Conference earlier this year. The GOP pledge has caused at least one senior member of the Republican conference to remove his name from a bill he once supported.

Before the March recess, Rep. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) removed his name as a co-sponsor of legislation seeking to expand a program used to find missing children and adults with special needs.

“We were informed by the GOP conference that based on the rules that the conference has established for earmarks this bill would be considered an earmark,” said Sensenbrenner spokesman Raj Bharwani. “He had to withdraw his sponsorship in order to honor his pledge.”

On Tuesday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told reporters she reserved the right to adopt an earmark moratorium in the future, despite press reports that indicated the idea had been scrapped.

“The earmark moratorium is still on the table,” said a House Democratic leadership aide. “The GOP legislative gimmicks won’t have much of an impact on the outcome.”

The aide added, “It’s difficult to take Republicans seriously on earmark reform … these are the same people who presided over an earmark explosion.”

Meanwhile, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) Wednesday released its “2008 Congressional Pig Book,” highlighting members who secure the most earmarks.

House Republicans at the top of CAGW’s list included Reps. Bill Young (Fla.), Jerry Lewis (Calif.), Kingston, Rodney Frelinghuysen (N.J.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.).
 
Jessica Malmgren contributed to this article.