Pork to the Republicans! That's the way to "hit em where it hurts!" THE HILL
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October 22, 2003
GOP axes Dems’ earmarks
Regula to punish opponents of Labor-HHS bill
By Hans Nichols
The House Republican leadership has endorsed an effort by Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio), an appropriations cardinal, to punish Democrats en masse for their blanket opposition to the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education spending package.
Regula’s plan to redirect all potential Democratic earmarks to vulnerable Republicans would breathe new life into a principle that Republican leaders have long wanted their more accommodating appropriators to enforce: If Democrats vote against appropriations bills, they shouldn’t expect special projects earmarked for their districts.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) suggested that the potential punishment might be “criminal.”
“This could be — this could be — I don’t know, these kinds of threats, do they border on the criminal?” she said.
Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the Democratic Caucus chairman, called it “a clear declaration of war.”
But Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) commended the normally go-along, get-along Regula for his partisan fortitude in yesterday’s GOP conference meeting.
The $470 billion bill, currently before a House-Senate conference, has roughly $1 billion set aside for special earmarked projects in lawmakers’ districts, said Jim Dyer, staff director of the House Appropriations Committee.
Hastert’s words of encouragement were delivered at the Republican conference, said a GOP leadership aide. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) also is supportive of the strategy, said his spokesman, Stuart Roy.
“I pointed out to leadership that not one Democrat voted for this bill, in subcommittee, in committee and on the House floor,” Regula told The Hill.
“So I gather they didn’t like it much and wouldn’t want any part of it,” he said.
Regula said that, currently, no money is set aside for Democratic projects and that the structure of the bill is unlikely to change.
Hastert’s endorsement, and the support of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), are strong indicators that Regula’s final bill will not include any money for Democratic projects, said GOP leadership aides.
However, a GOP leadership aide cautioned, “Nothing’s final until the bill is final.”
Since Regula’s plan to scotch all House Democratic earmarks would not affect specific projects inserted by the Senate, some House Democrats could still find projects in their district funded at the behest of their senators.
Republican leaders are pleased with Regula’s hardball approach because they believe it could send an important message to Democrats.
“I wouldn’t call it a hard and fast rule. It’s what we want to become a common practice; If you vote against the bill, don’t expect your projects to be included,” said the GOP leadership aide.
But there’s some debate between Republicans and Democrats about whether Regula’s planned course of action would, in fact, represent a new way of doing business.
Regula said lawmakers have always known that if they don’t support a bill on the floor, they shouldn’t expect any special projects for their districts. “It’s not unique.
What’s unique is that all voted against this bill,” he said.
Dyer agreed with Regula’s analysis. He told The Hill, “That’s always been the rule. If you don’t support the bill, you don’t get your projects.”
But Democrats insisted that Regula was creating a drastic new precedent — changing the tone and tenor of the appropriations process. They charged that it was undemocratic and would further fray the already strained relations in the House as it races to finish up its work.
Earlier this month, when it was less certain that Regula’s course of action would be adopted, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) the ranking member on both the full committee and relevant subcommittee, told The Wall Street Journal, “It would be an unfortunate act for this institution, if at a time when we’re trying to pull people together and finishing the session, that we experience yet another vendetta.”
But yesterday, Obey declined to comment on the likelihood that his members would be denied projects as punishment for voting en masse against the bill. “I am not going to go through this bill piecemeal. I am just not going to do it,” he said.
At her weekly press conference, Pelosi told reporters: “This is the height of outrageousness. Just when you think you have seen it all, the Republicans come out there and say because you voted for America’s children, your district will suffer in terms of this legislation.”
“I think we have to take a very serious look at what they are threatening. But I’ll tell you this, Democrats will stick with America’s children and we will not be blackmailed by the Republicans,” she said.
Others doubted that the final bill would strip all projects heading to districts represented by Democrats.
“In the end, Ralph Regula is a fair guy and substance will come down,” said Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.). “You’ve got to have some discipline in all organizations, but you’ve got have some substance and some politics.
“I just don’t believe he is going to do it.
“Democrats were only trying to get a message across that we thought this bill under funding a lot of programs.”
Republican aides said Regula’s new hard-knuckle politics should be viewed as part of the jostling among GOP appropriations cardinals to succeed Chairman Bill Young (R-Fla.) when his term expires at the end of this Congress.
Based on seniority, Regula is next in line. But due to his lack of fundraising for fellow Republicans and his less than solid GOP voting record, the GOP leadership has sent signals that it would prefer either Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.) or Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) as the next chairman.
In general, government programs are funded on the basis of a predetermined formula that could be based, for example, on a state’s population. Other so-called discretionary funds are disbursed various agencies, often on a competitive basis.
Congress enters the picture through so-called earmarks that are written into many appropriations bills. They may be either “hard earmarks” under which the lawmakers direct the federal agency to provide certain funds to specific programs it has identified or “soft earmarks” In the latter case, Congress identifies a program and directs the federal agency to evaluate the program and to fund it, if warranted.
The Labor-HHS bill is unique because all earmarks are added during the conference.
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