As House Republican leaders called lawmakers to their offices Thursday night for a slice of pizza and a talk on why they should vote for the debt limit bill, Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., was celebrating the changed atmosphere.
New rules banning earmarks mean that the leaders can't offer lawmakers big projects in their districts in return for voting for the bill.
“It is the most refreshing thing in the world to see what’s going on in there,” said Flake, who worked for the earmark ban. “This kind of negotiation a couple years ago would have cost about $20 billion.”
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07/29/2011
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