But the bill now has a good chance of going through, particularly given the fact that it is well-larded with domestic pork spending.
It might seem odd that Republican lawmakers are taking such a bold stance against earmarks--after all, they held the reins of Congressional power for the last 12 years, and presumably most pork spending benefited their districts.
One of the main problems with pork spending is that 95% of all earmarks get added to the conference report that accompanies an appropriations bill--not the bill itself--meaning that the projects, costs and sponsors are not easily apparent.
Additional pressure on Boehner came from Republicans who criticized proposed congressional "pork" spending in the bill that was unrelated to Sandy needs.
"I know he does have a great record for not being a pork barrel spending freak like some of the other people in the Senate and the House, " he said.
While many stimulus projects have come under fire as pork barrel spending, backers of the nets program say it is a model for helping those battered by the economic downturn while completing needed public works.
"While my heart goes out to the victims of Hurricane Sandy, it is unacceptable for Congress to use this disaster as a justification for passing a bill chock-full of pork barrel spending, " Georgia Republican Paul Broun said on Monday.
It is a plan that's been put together without earmarks or the usual pork-barrel spending.
The other problem is a state bloated by pork-barrel spending and hampered by a creaky tax system.
Mr Johnson hopes the voters will remember their liking for pork-barrel spending (a universal preference, but understandable in a poor state).
On Thursday, the company announced a partnership with the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit group that exposes legislative issues such as pork-barrel spending.
Jim DeMint, a senator from South Carolina, wants his colleagues to adopt a voluntary ban on earmarks, a form of pork-barrel spending particularly reviled by fiscal hawks.
As it was, and given the amount of pork-barrel spending deals needed to pass the bill, public acceptance of the ACA collapsed as more people learned what was in it.
Then, Bud Shuster, the controversial House Transportation Committee chairman and author of one of the biggest pork-barrel spending bills in the history of Congress, had to leave his chairman post.
I've fought the big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on things you neither need nor want, and the first big-spending pork-barrel earmark bill that comes across my desk, I will veto it.
After watching Republicans define the stimulus as wasteful spending and pork, the president decided to give a prime-time press conference and make a series of campaign-style stops.
The danger with this form of stimulus is twofold: First, it takes too long for the government spending to kick in, and second, spending may easily focus on pork-barrel projects that have little inherent value.
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Stimulus spending in particular tends to fund pork barrel projects that Congress has been previously resisting.
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It also larded spending bills with as much extra pork as possible.
We're still spending money and passing programs and pork and otherwise.
McCain favors less government spending, often chastising congressional colleagues for pork barrel earmarks and criticizing the budget process that allows them.
Both candidates will make an issue of federal spending, but in truth West Virginians like their pork.
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They would rather he wait to veto a more blatant piece of pork-barrel legislation that's likely to be included in separate spending bills in the fall.
Any big public project in Brazil provides opportunities for expensive pork-barrel politics in a legislature that can make high drama out of even routine spending bills.
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