Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday announced he is backing Rep. Jeff Flake to serve on the Appropriations Committee in the 112th Congress.

Flake, an anti-earmark crusader, has tried to secure a slot on the Appropriations panel for years. Boehner’s support for Flake, which all but assures the Arizona Republican will get a seat on the panel, comes just a few weeks after Republicans extended their across-the-board ban on earmarks.

Boehner urged members of the Republican Steering Committee to join him in supporting Flake.

“The Appropriations Committee will be the scene of much action in the next Congress as we work to implement the Pledge to America, which calls for cutting spending to pre-‘stimulus’ levels, repealing the job-killing health care law, prohibiting all taxpayer funding of abortion, and bringing greater scrutiny to the broken spending process in Washington,” Boehner said in a statement. “These priorities are among the priorities of the American people, and the Republicans currently serving on the Appropriations Committee are going to need all the additional help they can get in working to ensure the priorities of the people are met.”