John Boozman: “I agree with Mr. Flake and Mr. Pence about the situation of needing to earmark responsibly. And certainly earmarking to…”

“I agree with Mr. Flake and Mr. Pence about the situation of needing to earmark responsibly. And certainly earmarking to protect vulnerable Members, in fact, anything of that certainly is not for the good of the country and the good of Congress or whatever. I guess what I question is that in this particular amendment, in this particular bill, I think it is inappropriate. This program is a formula-based grants program that has not been earmarked in the past and there's no plans to earmark it in the future. We are not talking about beach restoration. We are not talking about beach reclamation. We are talking about a bill that allows States, allows beaches, to monitor pathogens so that when a family from Arkansas goes to Florida or goes to South Carolina, wherever they go, and they pull up, that they can, with safety, get out and swim in the waters without it being a cesspool. I wish that more people would sneak an earmark in the night to protect their beach. Again, that is not going to happen with this bill. It is not the purpose of the bill. So I would ask that we vote against this, and yet again I feel very strongly that what Mr. Pence is saying, what Mr. Flake is trying to do with his amendment is appropriate, but not in this particular vehicle. I don't think that it pertains at all.”