Republicans Love Their Pork

Look for the Republicans in Congress to continue giving lip service to wanting to do away with pork barrel politics. It will continue to be business as usual despite, or because of, the will of the people.

The congressional Republican establishment, with its charade of pretending to crack down on budget earmarks while in fact preserving its addiction to pork, faces embarrassment this week when the Democratic-designed budget is brought to the Senate floor. The GOP's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, is an uncompromising pork buster with no use for the evasions by Republican addicts on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Jim DeMint, a first-term reform Republican from South Carolina, is to propose a one-year, no-loopholes moratorium on earmarks as a budget amendment. McCain has announced his support for the amendment and intends to co-sponsor it. DeMint wants to coordinate McCain's visits to the Senate floor from the campaign trail so the candidate can be there to speak and vote for the moratorium.

The irony could hardly be greater. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, an ardent earmarker, is smart enough politically to realize how unpopular the practice is with the Republican base. Consequently, McConnell combines anti-earmark rhetoric with evasive tactics designed to save pork. But McCain, surely not the presidential candidate McConnell wanted, is pledging that as president he will veto any bill containing earmarks. McConnell, meanwhile, is running for reelection in Kentucky by bragging about the pork he has brought the state.