House Republicans Call For Moratorium On Earmarks

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and other GOP leaders, are calling for a moratorium on "earmarks" inserted into annual spending bills, and they want both parties to create a bipartisan select committee to study the issue.

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday, following a meeting of Republican House members, Boehner, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), GOP Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fla.) and other senior GOP lawmakers, said the "earmark system should be brought to an immediate halt, and a bipartisan select committee should be established for the purpose of identifying ways to bring fundamental change to the way in which Washington spends taxpayers' money."

The full text of the GOP letter to Pelosi can be read here.