The fall election might have these folks worried - I hope so, they've earned it.
I think at this stage of the game whatever they do (and I don't expect much) will be too little too late. They've had YEARS to straighten this mess out and have done nothing.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/cf26b6b2-820b-11da-aea0-0000779e2340.html
With Republicans embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that could threaten their control of Congress, the biggest pressure for reform is coming from lawmakers who charge that the party’s woes have come from abandoning its core conservative principles.
Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican congressman who co-led the petition drive that helped oust Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, said in an interview yesterday: “We don’t just need a new majority leader, we need a course correction.
“A lobbyist can’t be corrupt unless he has somebody to bribe, and we’ve created a culture that just breeds corruption,” he charged.
While the Republicans captured the House of Representatives in 1994 following a popular backlash against perceived corruption in the Democratic party, the party’s conservative critics say it has now fallen prey to the same Washington culture. A group of more than 100 members organised as the Republican Study Committee is hoping to use the leadership race to rein in what they see as runaway government spending championed by Mr DeLay and his allies.
At the top of the conservative reform agenda is an end to the practice of earmarking, in which members can secretly insert into huge spending bills billions of dollars in projects for favoured companies or other constituents – many of whom in turn donate to the lawmakers’ re-election funds. While the practice is not new, it has mushroomed since Republicans captured Congress. Last year 15,000 earmarks were added into various spending bills.
Legislators are facing growing pressure over the practice. Jerry Lewis, the Republican who chairs the House appropriations committee, is under fire after the San Diego Union-Tribune reported he had earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to clients of a former colleague and lobbyist, Bill Lowery.
Mr Flake predicted the fallout over earmarking “would be ugly, and if we haven’t addressed it prospectively, we’re in deeper trouble than we know”.
The conservatives are also hoping to reform the congressional budgeting process by sharply reducing the use of “emergency” spending bills, such as those that have paid for the war in Iraq and rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina. They would also reform House rules to allow more challenges to spending bills that exceed agreed budget targets, and to ensure that such bills can be carefully reviewed by lawmakers before votes are held.
Mr Flake and other conservatives have yet to find a leadership candidate who stands clearly for their cause, however. Mike Pence, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, has said he will not seek the leadership. Conservatives are hoping to draft John Shadegg, another Arizona Republican.
Neither of the frontrunners, John Boehner of Ohio or the acting majority leader, Roy Blunt, appears an obvious champion for the conservatives. In a letter this week announcing his candidacy, Mr Boehner did not sketch out an aggressive reform plan, saying instead: “I think we need to engage in a bit of renewal.”
Mr Blunt, an ally of Mr DeLay, is part of the Republican leadership. But Mr Flake said that on the issue of earmarking “there’s a stark difference between the two. John Boehner has never put an earmark in an appropriation bill.” Mr Blunt, in contrast, “is an unapologetic champion of earmarks”, he said.
I think at this stage of the game whatever they do (and I don't expect much) will be too little too late. They've had YEARS to straighten this mess out and have done nothing.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/cf26b6b2-820b-11da-aea0-0000779e2340.html
With Republicans embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal that could threaten their control of Congress, the biggest pressure for reform is coming from lawmakers who charge that the party’s woes have come from abandoning its core conservative principles.
Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican congressman who co-led the petition drive that helped oust Tom DeLay, the House majority leader, said in an interview yesterday: “We don’t just need a new majority leader, we need a course correction.
“A lobbyist can’t be corrupt unless he has somebody to bribe, and we’ve created a culture that just breeds corruption,” he charged.
While the Republicans captured the House of Representatives in 1994 following a popular backlash against perceived corruption in the Democratic party, the party’s conservative critics say it has now fallen prey to the same Washington culture. A group of more than 100 members organised as the Republican Study Committee is hoping to use the leadership race to rein in what they see as runaway government spending championed by Mr DeLay and his allies.
At the top of the conservative reform agenda is an end to the practice of earmarking, in which members can secretly insert into huge spending bills billions of dollars in projects for favoured companies or other constituents – many of whom in turn donate to the lawmakers’ re-election funds. While the practice is not new, it has mushroomed since Republicans captured Congress. Last year 15,000 earmarks were added into various spending bills.
Legislators are facing growing pressure over the practice. Jerry Lewis, the Republican who chairs the House appropriations committee, is under fire after the San Diego Union-Tribune reported he had earmarked hundreds of millions of dollars to clients of a former colleague and lobbyist, Bill Lowery.
Mr Flake predicted the fallout over earmarking “would be ugly, and if we haven’t addressed it prospectively, we’re in deeper trouble than we know”.
The conservatives are also hoping to reform the congressional budgeting process by sharply reducing the use of “emergency” spending bills, such as those that have paid for the war in Iraq and rebuilding following Hurricane Katrina. They would also reform House rules to allow more challenges to spending bills that exceed agreed budget targets, and to ensure that such bills can be carefully reviewed by lawmakers before votes are held.
Mr Flake and other conservatives have yet to find a leadership candidate who stands clearly for their cause, however. Mike Pence, who chairs the Republican Study Committee, has said he will not seek the leadership. Conservatives are hoping to draft John Shadegg, another Arizona Republican.
Neither of the frontrunners, John Boehner of Ohio or the acting majority leader, Roy Blunt, appears an obvious champion for the conservatives. In a letter this week announcing his candidacy, Mr Boehner did not sketch out an aggressive reform plan, saying instead: “I think we need to engage in a bit of renewal.”
Mr Blunt, an ally of Mr DeLay, is part of the Republican leadership. But Mr Flake said that on the issue of earmarking “there’s a stark difference between the two. John Boehner has never put an earmark in an appropriation bill.” Mr Blunt, in contrast, “is an unapologetic champion of earmarks”, he said.
