Sen. Inhofe Blasts House Republicans For Earmark "Moratorium"

Sen. Inhofe Believes Banning Earmarks Cedes Power To The Executive Branch

Last week, House Republicans (save Rep. Don Young of Alaska) strutted around Washington patting themselves on the back for pledging not to request earmarks for the rest of the year.

In a statement, House Republican Conference chairman Rep. Mike Pence condemned earmarks as "emblematic of a broken Washington that puts special interests before the public interest."

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), a leading Senate conservative, doesn't agree.  He says those favoring the ban have been "demagogued into believing something that isn't true."  As described by the Christian News Service:

What really is at issue, he believes, is whether federal spending will be directed by Congress, as the Constitution intended it to be, rather than by the president and unelected Executive Branch bureaucrats, who do not have the constitutional power of the purse granted to Congress in Article 1, Section 9 of the Constitution, or the enumerated powers granted to Congress in Article 1, Section 8.

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But preserving the power to earmark authorization bills as well as funding measures carrying out those authorizations, Inhofe argues, is essential to preserving Congress's core constitutional functions as the legislative branch of government.

Sen. Inhofe elaborated, claiming that eliminating Congressional earmarks will give even more power to the Executive Branch:

Now, there are a lot of spending determinations that are made that I bitterly oppose. But if you say that you end all -- they call them "earmarks" -- but say all spending by Congress then that means all that is going to be done by Barack Obama in the White House. It will go to the Executive. So, I have been very much concerned. I know that people, an awful lot of the big-spending Republicans, they beat the drum on earmark reform -- "We want to end all earmarks!" -- and all of that.  And what they don't realize -- what the people don't realize-is if you stop an earmark you don't save a nickel. All you do is send that to the Executive Branch. It is the hardest thing in the world to get across.

With Republicans calling on Speaker Pelosi to follow suit in banning earmarks, it's clear Republicans are planning on emphasizing this issue moving forward.  Thus far, however, it seems the fiercest opposition may come from their own side of the aisle.