Maine's delegation opposes earmark moratorium

Republican Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins voted against a proposal on Thursday night to place a one-year moratorium on lawmakers' local projects. The Senate voted 71-29 to block the amendment even though Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., supported the measure. In the House, Democratic Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud also opposed a similar provision, which Republicans included in their alternative budget for 2009. That measure failed 157-263. Allen said on Tuesday that he had not decided whether to vote for a one-year moratorium. But as a member of the House Budget Committee, he voted against an amendment offered by Republicans on the panel to block earmarks in next year's budget. The House rejected alternative budgets offered by the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Allen and Michaud voted against both budgets. The House and Senate on Thursday passed non-binding budget resolutions, the sweeping blueprints of what a budget should look like. House and Senate negotiators must reconcile differences between the two proposals before May 15. Once that happens, the appropriators can begin filling in specific spending details.