House Republican Defense Appropriator Skeptical of Earmark Ban

Bill Young of Florida, the top Republican on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, predicts that House Republicans will get tired of seeing their Senate counterparts securing earmarks while they stay on the sidelines, according to a recent story in Roll Call.

“I don’t think that Members of the House are going to look with favor upon Senators being able to deliver monies to their states when the Members of the House can’t,” Young said.

Young’s comments come in the wake of the House Republican decision to ban all earmark requests by their members, itself a response to the Democratically controlled House Appropriations Committee’s decision not to accept earmark request for for-profit entities.  Republican and Democratic Senators alike have declined to adopt either measure.

Young’s opinion matters.  As the ranking Republican member on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, all Republican defense earmark requests must go through his staff.  Young has complied with the House Republican ban, but clearly opposes it and doesn’t think rank and file Republicans would be supportive of seeing it extended beyond this year.

Young’s views were reflected by another Republican member of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Jack Kingston of Georgia.  “This is a great political opportunity to play ‘I gotcha,’” Kingston said. “And yet, I wager most appropriators are still part of the committee first and probably will not be trying to embarrass the Democrats about it.”