In an effort to signal their commitment to cutting federal spending, House Republicans announced Thursday that they have adopted a unilateral moratorium on all earmarks.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said, "For millions of Americans, the earmark process in Congress has become a symbol of a broken Washington."
"Today House Republicans took an important step toward showing the American people we're serious about reform by adopting an immediate, unilateral ban on all earmarks," he added.
The move by Republicans comes a day after the House Appropriations Committee announced that it would not approve requests for earmarks that are directed to for-profit entities.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, Committee Chairman Dave Obey, D-Wis., and incoming Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norm Dicks, D-Wash., said the rule would have resulted in 1,000 fewer earmarks if it had been in effect last year.
Boehner said, "The more difficult battle lies ahead, and that's stopping the spending spree in Washington that is saddling our children and grandchildren with trillions of dollars in debt. Only then will we have succeeded in bringing fundamental change to the way Congress spends taxpayers' money."
Senator John McCain, R-Ariz., a vocal critic of earmarks, applauded the House Republican leadership for adopting the moratorium on earmarks and called on the Senate to completely ban earmarks until the budget is balanced and the deficit is eliminated.
"We, as Members of Congress, owe it to the American people to conduct ourselves in a way that reinforces, rather than diminishes, the public's faith and confidence in Congress," McCain said.
He added, "By seriously addressing the corrupting influence of earmarks, we will allow Members to legislate with the imperative that our government must be free from corrupting influences, both real and perceived."
From the other side of the aisle, Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wis., also endorsed House Republicans' self-imposed ban on earmarks.
Feingold said, "I commend House Republicans for their year-long ban on earmarks and encourage House and Senate Democrats to do the same."
"But the Senate and House should go further and finally enact my bipartisan bill to fix the broken earmarking system, which breeds corruption and wastes taxpayer dollars," he added. "Taxpayers will be the winner if we can end this abusive practice."
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