HYPOCRISY In The HOUSE: Despite Ban, Senator Finds Bill Riddled With Earmarks

[Lakhota]

By David Goldstein | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — House Republicans banned earmarks, a top symbol of congressional profligacy, after they won control of the chamber last fall in a wave of voter anger over excessive government spending.

But more than half of the amendments to this year's House Department of Defense authorization bill were earmarks, according to Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a leading congressional critic of the practice.

In a report to be released this week, McCaskill said that the House Armed Services Committee's chairman, Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., set up a system that enabled members to "circumvent the earmark ban" by offering pre-approved amendments that outlined the projects and the funds they hoped to secure for their districts.

While the committee said the projects described in the amendments were competitive, unlike earmarks, the sponsors were often lawmakers who had requested similar earmarks in the past. Moreover, some of them touted the projects in the amendments as boons for their districts or states as soon as the House of Representatives passed the bill.

In addition, the report said, "These amendments were subsequently adopted in large groups with little or no debate" or public disclosure.

The money to offset the costs of the amendments came from a "special fund" McKeon created by taking money from other defense accounts, according to the report, but which was "not dedicated to any clear defense spending priorities."

A spokesman for the House Armed Services Committee could not be reached for comment Friday.

More: Democratic senator, McCaskill, finds House defense bill riddled with earmarks | McClatchy