House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, affirmed his pledge to keep earmarks out of the legislative process, but admitted that i is harder to gather support for bills without giving earmarks to reluctant members of Congress.
“It’s a lot harder to win votes when you don’t have goodies to pass out,” Boehner said at CPAC 2012 today as he discussed the congressional earmark ban. “We sacrificed a powerful tool that’s been around for decades,” he added.
Boehner also derided press reports about the “tumultuous” Republican majority. “This is not a majority of members who are willing to trade their votes away [for earmarks],” he said. “Things are harder, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
The Republican noted that the transportation bill under consideration doesn’t have any earmarks, but he admited he doesn’t know if it will pass.
