The Senate Republican conference’s looming vote has been portrayed as the first test of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell versus Tea Party leader Jim DeMint. House GOP leadership last week announced an agreement to ban earmarks for at least two years. But McConnell held out in the Senate while DeMint pressed for a conference vote on the issue Tuesday after leadership elections.
“A lot of people are viewing this as a proxy battle between you and the Leader,” a reporter told DeMint today after a noon Tea Party rally on the Capitol lawn kicking off a week of freshman orientation.
“Well that’s not true at all,” DeMint replied. “It’s a proxy between elected officials and the American people. I mean, the message couldn’t be clearer. Over 70% of Americans want this. The House is going to stop earmarks. We’re not going to have earmarks. It’s just a question of whether we’re willing to vote on it in the Senate and I think we will… I have a lot of confidence in the Party. I think there’s a lot more unity than folks think.
There may have been even more unity than DeMint expected. Two hours later, McConnell released a statement reversing his objection to the moratorium. “I’m not wild about turning over more spending authority to the executive branch, but I have come to share the view of most Americans that our nation is at a crossroads; that we will not be able to secure the kind of future we want for our children and grandchildren unless we act, and act quickly; and that only way we will be able to turn the corner and save our future is if elected leaders like me make the kinds of difficult decisions voters are clearly asking us to make,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “Republican Leaders in the House and Senate are now united on this issue, united in hearing what the voters have been telling us for two years — and acting on it.”
Either McConnell gave DeMint one to start off on the right foot or we just got a preview of how McConnell’s going to get rolled the next two years. Welcome to the Tea Party Senate, Leader McConnell, would you like something stiffer with that cup?
Update:
McConnell’s office points out that as recently as Nov. 7, McConnell has said he’s opened to considering a moratorium. From CBS’s Face the Nation:
MCCONNELL: Well, here’s the problem. The president, of course, endorsed the DeMint proposal in his press conference the other day as well, which is not surprising because every president would like for us to appropriate all the money and send it to them and let them spend it any way they want to. The earmark issue is about discretion, about an argument between the executive branch and the legislative branch over how funds should be spent. And, so it has generated some level of controversy within our conference. There are many members of my conference who said I don’t want the president to make all the decisions about how the funds are spent that might be allocated to my state. Other members have said I think we need to get rid of earmarks. We ought to also deal with executive branch earmarks. The stimulus bill that passed last year, the almost trillion dollar stimulus bill was riddled with executive branch earmarks. As you can see it’s a lot more complicated than it appears. And we’re going to be discussing that issue week after next.
And, it’s true that this move does kinda only really screw with the party that doesn’t control the White House as Democrats can simply submit their erstwhile earmarks to the administration to fold into their discretionary spending request to Congress, otherwise known as the budget.