Staunch earmark opponent in Senate probes House add-ons

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., is taking his earmark crusade across the Capitol to the House fiscal 2008 defense authorization bill, mobilizing his aides and interns to blanket House Armed Services Committee member offices with calls and e-mails requesting more information on their individual add-ons.

It is an unorthodox tactic -- and one that has prompted criticism from House aides, who point out that the House committee's report on the authorization bill complies with House rules. It includes 13 pages of charts providing details on 458 individual projects totaling $7.7 billion, they say.

"We're doing the best we can do," one House aide said. The aide said there was a "certain amount of respect" for Coburn's efforts to improve transparency, but added that there is also a sense of "frustration that there's just this constant bickering" over earmarks.

A long-time opponent of congressional add-ons to appropriations and authorization bills, Coburn has threatened to block House-Senate conference negotiations on spending bills if they do not meet new standards for earmark disclosures.

A Coburn spokesman Wednesday left open the possibility that the senator could employ the same tactics on the Senate's defense authorization bill, which the chamber plans to take up soon.

"Rep. Obey said he needed help sorting through earmarks, so we're providing some assistance," Coburn's spokesman said, referring to House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., who has been battling a Republican assault this week on his plan to handle more than 30,000 earmark requests.

Coburn's office is conducting "advanced research on the earmarks and helping beleaguered Rep. Obey on a daunting task," the spokesman added.

The unusual effort has been coordinated by Coburn's legislative aide who handles military issues, and is being carried out by interns and other staffers.

The earmark disclosures in the House-passed defense authorization bill include the budget account from which the funding will be drawn, a brief description of the project, the amount, the intended recipient and the requesting member.

But Coburn is not satisfied with the disclosures.

According to House sources familiar with his office's requests, the Oklahoma Republican wants information on whether the add-ons had been requested by the Pentagon -- and if so, by whom.

He also wants more details on who would benefit from the earmark, and has requested offices provide talking points and press releases on their adds.

When they compile the information, Coburn's staff then might come up with a "target list" of earmarks, and potentially farm out some of the information to outside groups, the spokesman said.

The campaign for more information on the defense authorization earmarks will extend to all House members who have earmarks in the defense authorization bill, Coburn's spokesman said.

Coburn was unavailable for comment because he was receiving medical care.

One House Republican aide, who said he respected Coburn's ultimate goals, questioned why Coburn is showing interest in House affairs at all.

"The last time I checked, there were 99 other senators he could talk to," sniffed the aide, expressing irritation he said was shared by other House aides.

After receiving Coburn's queries, several House offices contacted House Armed Services Committee staff wondering how to handle the unusual questioning from the Senate side, especially from someone not on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The queries prompted the majority and minority staff directors to send out e-mails Wednesday to legislative aides stating that it is up to individual members whether or not to comply with the requests.

The committee's Democratic staff director noted in her e-mail that she had spoken with Coburn's office to answer "general questions about our compliance with House Rules at the time we were on the floor."

She also spoke with the Senate Armed Services Committee staff director Wednesday to "make him aware of the inquiries a number of you are receiving," according to the e-mail.