Rep. Joseph Cao, R-La., is one of at least three House Republicans to ignore his caucus's ban on requesting fiscal year 2011 earmarks. Cao requested projects totaling more than $500 million for his district.
He joins perennial earmarker Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, and Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who also requested earmarks despite the Republican moratorium.
Cao was the sole Republican to vote for the original House health care bill in November 2009; at the time, Bloomberg.com characterized him as "the Democratic
majority’s most reliable Republican," noting that the freshman Republican won in a district where President Barack ...
After health care vote, members turn to earmark requests
[Note: this post has been corrected and revised]A
day after Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., and ten other House members
compromised on their pro-life objections to the bill to deliver the
necessary yes-votes to pass health care reform, [Begin
new:]On Monday, March 22, House members turned from the contentious
vote on the trillion dollar national health insurance reform to focus
on more mundane matters--like requesting $84,400 for local geriatric
health care education programs.
That was one of more than 170 earmarks requested by Rep. Bart Stupak,
D-Mich., one of 11 lawmakers who were closely targeted by the
Democratic ...
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