Jeff Flake | Congressman Arizona’s Sixth District

Washington, D.C., Feb 7 - Republican Congressman Jeff Flake (AZ-06), along with Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, today called on House Leadership to allow a vote on an amendment to permanently ban earmarks in the House. The House version of the Earmark Elimination Act offered by Congressmen Flake was attached as an amendment to the STOCK Act (S. 2038).

          “Efforts to prohibit the use of privileged information by members of Congress for personal financial gain would fall short if earmarking were not permanently banned toward this same end,” said Flake. “Individual members of Congress should not have the ability to direct federal money to recipients of their choice with little or no oversight.”

          “There is wide bipartisan support for enacting a permanent ban on earmarks as evidenced by the vote in the U.S. Senate last week,” Sen. Toomey said. “Today’s article in the Washington Post underscores the necessity of passing a permanent earmark ban.  I urge the leadership in the House of Representatives to allow a vote on the earmark ban offered as an amendment to the STOCK Act by Rep. Flake.”