House conservatives went to war with moderate GOP appropriators last week over the military spending bill for FY 2006 last week.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R.-Tex) was successful in stripping the bill of $507 million, but in the end, the bill still contained $476 million in earmarks-including a $9.7 million for an "indoor washrack" in Rep. Rick Larsen's (D.-Wash.) Whidbey Island.
Appropriations member Ray LaHood (R.-Ill.) scolded fiscal conservatives by telling them “You picked the wrong bill to have the earmark fight.”
Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) views this fight as a test run for future appropriations struggles to come this summer. He told Congressional Quarterly, “Stay tuned, there will be more fireworks.”
Below is a partial listing released from the RSC that describes some of the earmarks House conservatives were unable to kill.
-$2.0 million for a child care center (Redstone Arsenal, AL)
- $9.8 million for an education center complex (Little Rock AFB, AR)
- $8.2 million for a child development center (Fort Irwin, CA)
- $11 million for child development center (Eglin AFB, FL)
- $8.2 million for a child development center (Fort Leavenworth, KS)
- $6.1 million for a child care center (Fort Polk, LA)
- $3.8 million for an animal clinic/kennel complex (Whitman AFB, MO)
- $5.7 million for a community activity center (Malstrom AFB, MT)
- $5.7 million for an electrical substation (Tinker AFB, OK)
- $9.3 million for “alert airfield pavements” (Shaw AFB, SC
- $8.2 million for a physical fitness facility (Fort Bliss, TX)
- $6.5 million for a parking garage (Fort Worth Navy Reserve, TX)
- $4.8 million for a multi-purpose building (Camp Dawson, WV)
- $9.7 million for an “indoor washrack” (Whidbey Island, WA)
