zhjchv0317Republicans are engaged replica handbagsin a tough fight over government spending. But this time, the battle isn't just between fiscal conservatives and the GOP's own big spenders. The battle over earmarks has split the two of the Senate's most conservative members.
Last week, House Republicans agreed Replica Louis Vuittonto a one-year unilateral moratorium on earmarks: they'll insert no special requests for local projects in this year's spending bills. Democrats had banned earmarks for specific corporations the day before. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) wants Senate Republicans to follow in the House's footsteps.
"This is exactly the kind of bold designer handbagsleadership Americans have been demanding, and I applaud House Republicans for putting their country ahead of earmarks," DeMint said in a statement. "House Democrats talked a good game this week, but only House Republicans took real action. Finally, Republicans are getting serious about earning back the trust of American taxpayers."
But Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) -- ranked by Replica WatchesNational Journal as the most conservative senator in 2009 -- disagrees. In an interview with TAS, he argued that the anti-earmarks crusade will end up ceding Congress's constitutional authority over appropriations to a liberal executive branch rather than reducing any federal spending. "A lot of the big spending Republicans are distracting people from the real spending," Inhofe says.
Earmarks even divide families. Ron Omega replica Watches Paul, the Texas congressman and 2008 Republican presidential candidate, is a supporter of earmarks and has requested a number of them for his district. "I love Ron Paul!" former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay once told your humble servant in an interview. "Who do you think helped him get all his earmarks?"
Rand Paul, the congressman's son andSwiss replica Watches an insurgent Republican candidate for Senate in Kentucky, has taken a no-pork pledge and supports DeMint's proposed earmark ban. "The Tea Party movement is an effort to get government under control," the younger Paul said in a statement. "I'm running to represent Kentuckians and to dismantle the culture of professional politicians in Washington. Leadership isn't photo-ops with oversized fake cardboard checks. That kind of thinking is bankrupting our nation. Senator DeMint understands that and has taken action to stop it."
