Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. -- long a defender of the earmarks -- just reversed course. That adds pressure on Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to jump on the bandwagon, which would be an extraordinary step for a lawmaker whose ability to secure funding for homestate projects has long been a source of pride.
McConnell was under tremendous pressure from the tea party movement and many conservatives in his own caucus. So it was good, if defensive, politics to embrace a push led by Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina to put a two-year moratorium on earmarks.
Senate Republicans will vote tomorrow on the ban, which would be voluntary and would not apply to Democrats.
Before McConnell's announcement, 13 other GOP senators had publicly endorsed the ban, including Texan John Cornyn.
Hutchison has not stated a position, but it is widely assumed that she opposes it.
She is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and has used that perch for years to steer billions of dollars in spending to Texas military bases, universities, researchers, public works and transportation projects. The public mood -- particularly the mood among Republican voters -- has not been kind to earmarkers this year. Gov. Rick Perry portrayed her as an "earmark queen" in the primary.
With House Republicans adopting a self-imposed earmark ban, Hutchison's influence as an appropriator would be even more invaluable to Texas cities, counties and institutions seeking federal funds. But McConnell's change of heart pretty much guarantees the moratorium will pass; it would still be possible to arrange funding for particular projects but without earmarks, much trickier.
Source: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/11/an-ear-ache-for-hutchison-as-g.html
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