PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: The Hill reports on a planned porkfest:

House Republicans are struggling to move a labor, health and human services (HHS) appropriations bill containing more than 1,700 earmarks that would help lawmakers of both parties in their November reelection bids.

The district-specific projects, totaling about half a billion dollars, are tied to a Democratic minimum-wage increase that is anathema to the GOP, and no proposed solution has taken root. . . .

Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said leadership will be under pressure to move the bill before the November election.

“Democrats and Republicans are going to want to pass this bill,” said Flake, who has threatened to offer amendments to strike each of the 1,700 earmarks for which a sponsor is not identified.

“We’re in an election season, and members have come to believe that the path to reelection is paved with pork,” Flake said. “This bill is full of it.”

Few, if any, lawmakers expect the largest domestic spending bill to become law before the election, but many would like the House to pass it by then.

It’s called buying your votes with your own money. I hope we’ll see a lot of pushback on this.