Paul Ryan unilaterally killed the earmark agenda just before it passed in a House committee, citing the fact that they just had a ‘drain the swamp’ election:
#BREAKING Ryan unilaterally halts plan to restore earmarks just before it was about to pass in closed conference
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
Fox is told GOP was about to ok restoration of some forms of earmarks until Ryan put skids on plan. Wants to Hse to debate issue
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
Ryan to GOPers: "We just had the drain the swamp election. We don't want to turn around 2 weeks later and have earmarks."
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
Hse GOP also reluctant to forge ahead renewing earmarks because they want to hear viewpoint of Trump
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
Fox is told Ryan wants to decide the future of earmarks in public, put it thru cmte. Maybe even bring proposals to Hse flr
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
Ryan assured GOPers he would address earmark issue in the first quarter of the year. He received applause.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) November 16, 2016
One of the big problems in the past with earmarks was that they were often used to bribe representatives into voting for legislation they might not vote for, so I’m glad to see Ryan take this position early.
It sounds like he wants to have the debate on this issue publicly instead of behind closed doors as his predecessor no doubt would have wanted.