Bachmann says transportation projects shouldn’t count as earmarks

Rep. Michele Bachmann said on Tuesday that transportation earmarks shouldn’t be called earmarks. In an interview with the Star Tribune, Bachmann said there should be a “redefinition” of the concept of earmarks. Bachmann has been a vocal opponent of earmarks and praised Sen. Mitch McConnell’s pledge on Tuesday to forgo the earmarking process.

“Advocating for transportation projects for ones district in my mind does not equate to an earmark,” she told the Strib.

“I don’t believe that building roads and bridges and interchanges should be considered an earmark,” Bachmann said. “There’s a big difference between funding a tea pot museum and a bridge over a vital waterway.”

In Bachmann’s first term in the House she did request earmarks for her district but took a pledge in her second term to reject the earmarking process.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced that he would be backing an earmark ban at a press conference on Tuesday. McConnell has taken advantage of the pork process with requests approaching $1 billion.

In an interview with Good Morning America’s George Stephanopoulos on Tuesday, Bachmann praised McConnell.

Stephanopoulos asked, “Republican leader Mitch McConnell says he’s going to back the ban on earmarks. Are you convinced this is going to stick, even if congressional Democrats don’t go along?”

“You know, I think it’s a very good sign,” she said. “And if Mitch McConnell has gone to the microphone and said that, I think that he means it and we should take him at his word. This is all very good for the American people.”

But Bachmann’s colleague in the Minnesota delegation implied that the Republican opposition to earmarks is mainly for show.

“[Earmarks are] one half of one percent of the entire federal budget,” Rep. Betty McCollum told MPR’s Morning Edition. “This is for local communities. I’m a big supporter of local control, especially when it comes to spending some of our tax dollars.”