HOUSE Republican Leader John Boehner

Washington, Feb 14, 2008 - House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) today issued the following statement after the House Republican Steering Committee voted to appoint Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) to the vacant Republican seat on the House Committee on Appropriations: 

“After Tom Cole’s gracious decision to withdraw, there were still several candidates who were capable of winning approval by the Steering Committee.  Of those candidates, Jo Bonner was chosen because he symbolizes the changing perspective in the House Republican ranks on the role of earmarks, and the emerging consensus among Republicans on the need to fundamentally change Washington’s broken spending process.   

“The Steering Committee was impressed by Jo Bonner’s willingness to support a total moratorium on all earmarks, despite his having regularly requested earmarks for his district in the past; by his commitment to using his experience to expose wasteful spending and enforce the new earmark reform standards House Republicans have unilaterally adopted; and by his ability to work with other reform-minded colleagues to force change from within.   

“Jo’s appointment sends a message to other Members with past earmarking experience: the rules are changing, and the old model is broken.  From this point forward, a Member’s willingness to change and support dramatic change in the spending process will be grounds for reward, not punishment.  We challenge the Democratic leadership in the House, which has chosen to keep the earmark factory in Congress open so it can shower its newly-elected members in pork, to demonstrate a similar shift. 

“Jo Bonner understands the old model is broken, and he’s committed to fixing it.” 

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