H/T Eric @ RedState, House Republicans Know How to Play The Game:
Dear Speaker Pelosi:
The earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington. Wasteful pork-barrel spending has outraged American families and eroded public confidence in our institution. Both of our parties bear responsibility for this failure.
...
In the interim, until a complete earmark moratorium is in place and a bipartisan panel is formed to identify ways to fix Washington’s wasteful pork-barrel spending habits, House Republicans will proceed with the adoption of a series of earmark reform standards we will insist that all House Republican members honor. These earmark reform standards include:
* No more “monuments to me.” ...
* No more “airdrops.” ...
* No more “fronts” or “pass-through” entities. ...
* Members of Congress who request earmarks should put forth a plan detailing exactly how the money will be spent and why they believe the use of taxpayer funding is justified. ...
* ... Members of Congress should require outside earmark recipients to put up “matching funds” ...
* The Executive Branch should be held accountable for its own earmark practices ...
...
We hope that by the end of your own Caucus retreat next week, you and all House Democrats will join us in supporting an immediate moratorium on all earmarks and the immediate formation of a bipartisan panel for the purpose of identifying ways to end wasteful pork-barrel spending in Washington and bring needed change to the way in which Congress spends taxpayers’ hard-earned money.
Nice work John A. Boehner, Roy Blunt, Adam Putnam, Thaddeus McCotter, Kay Granger, John Carter, Tom Cole, and Eric Cantor. Now we just have to wait to see how the Democrats respond.
