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Politics : American Presidential Politics and foreign affairs -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (15088)	11/9/2010 9:47:42 PM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71588

Don't let Old Bulls run House Appropriations Committee Examiner Editorial November 7, 2010 House Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner of Ohio is making critically important decisions this week that will go far toward determining whether his tenure as Nancy Pelosi's successor is marked by reform and progress or rebellion and lost opportunities. None of those decisions is more critical than who he backs as the new Republican committee chairmen in the House of Representatives. If he opts for a conventional approach that allows seniority to determine chairmanships, Boehner will seriously damage his credibility with voters who made crystal clear their demand for a new approach in Congress. Following tradition will also severely limit Boehner's ability to lead the freshman class, the group likely to have the greatest influence on the direction of the House in 2011. No chairmanship is more important than that of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls federal outlays. More than anything else, voters want Washington to stop irresponsible federal spending and rein in spiraling national debt, but returning sanity to the federal budget cannot be achieved without a new Appropriations panel head. As former Reader's Digest Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Y. Tomlinson writes elsewhere in Monday's Examiner, Boehner's choice is stark and simple. It would be a horrible mistake to give the nod to either Rep. Jerry Lewis of California or Rep. Hal Rogers of Kentucky. Lewis and Rogers are both Old Bull Republicans who love earmarks and pork barrel politics. Appointing either would split the House GOP caucus and spark a revolt among conservatives who have been fighting earmarks for years. Most if not all of the freshmen would join the revolt, with dire consequences for the GOP. The next two Republicans in line are C.W. Young of Florida, another earmark-loving Old Bull who would be a disaster as chairman, and Frank Wolf of Virginia, whose undoubted experience and skills would be better utilized elsewhere, especially on homeland security issues. The best choice for Appropriations would be Rep. Jack Kingston of Georgia, who has pushed House Republicans to reform earmarks for years and was the principal backer of the GOP caucus' current moratorium on them. Just as important, Kingston knows the details of federal budgeting, having served as the ranking GOP member of the panel's defense subcommittee. To be sure, the federal budget won't be balanced simply by banning earmarks. But just as it is impossible to be a little bit pregnant, House Republicans cannot be against most earmarks but for some of them, which has been the position of Boehner and Kingston. House Republicans should end them all and thereby demonstrate more effectively than any other single action that they understand what voters said last Tuesday. The Examiner will be looking at other key House committees throughout this week. washingtonexaminer.com Click back to the linked article before your post to be reminded about the problem with allowing Jerry Lewis any say in appropriations.