The Hill reports:
House Republicans approved a conference-wide moratorium on earmarks on Thursday, one day after a House committee enacted a ban on for-profit earmarks.
The Republicans’ moratorium is more extensive than the House Appropriations Committee’s ban in that it applies to all earmarks for all members of the caucus.
The moratorium was passed via a “strong” voice vote, according to Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), who participated in the nearly two-hour-long conference meeting.
Hat tip: Drew at AoSHQ, who notes that this is also a victory for the tea party movement.
UPDATE:
Pence Discusses Earmark Moratorium and Massa ethics probe on MSNBC (video)
Pence, the Chairman of the House Republican Conference, delivered these remarks today after the House Republican Conference approved the moratorium on all earmarks:
“Federal spending is out of control and the American people know it. Earmarks have become emblematic of everything that is wrong with spending here in Washington D.C. Today, after a marathon debate within the House Republican Conference, House Republicans have determined to renounce earmark requests of all kinds in this Congress, and the American people won that debate.
“By standing in favor of a moratorium on earmarks in this Congress, House Republicans are making a clean break from the past. We are offering the American people a fresh start on spending in Washington, D.C. We are offering the American people a new way forward. With the health care reform bill being debated and haggled about in these very hallways, no doubt earmarks are being talked about in a different way by the Democrat Majority. After the ‘Cornhusker Kickback,’ the ‘Gatorade Deal,’ the ‘Second Louisiana Purchase,’ the American people want us to change business as usual in Washington D.C.
“The contrast will be startling in the days ahead. No doubt as Democrats are making backroom deals, and offering earmarks to pass their government takeover of health care, today with one voice House Republicans have stepped forward and said, ‘The time has come to set aside earmarking as usual and begin the process of turning federal spending back over to the American people with a new course, new discipline, and new transparency.’”
