The end of earmarks? | The Week

Last Thursday, House Republicans declared a one-year moratorium on the practice of stuffing bills full of earmarks, or special projects lawmakers request for their home states or districts.

A day earlier, House Democrats swore off earmarks for private companies. Both sides want voters in November's midterm elections to see them as the enemies of "pork barrel"

spending. Does either party really mean it? (Watch a CBS report about the move to ban earmarks) REPUBLICANS ARE ATTACKING SPENDING PROBLEMS HEAD ON: The GOP moratorium will do more good than

the "half-measures" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Democrats are offering, says Mary Katherine Ham in _The Weekly Standard_. Earmarks "are a clear symbol of something

that's wrong with Washington," and Republicans will really impress voters "if they have the will to stick" to it. "GOP proposes earmark moratorium in wake of PMA

scandal" SUBSCRIBE TO THE WEEK Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives. SUBSCRIBE & SAVE SIGN UP FOR THE WEEK'S FREE

NEWSLETTERS From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News

Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox. THE GOP'S "ANTI-EARMARK CRUSADE" IS PHONY: It's odd the GOP claims it's "the party that

hates earmarks more," says Steve Benen in _Washington Monthly_. Earmarks quadrupled between 1994 and 2005, under Republican rule in Congresss. And 10 GOP leaders now calling pork

spending a "symbol of a broken Washington" have requested more than $240 million in earmarks since 2008. "Oops." "The GOP discovers its distaste for earmarks"

THIS COULD THE START OF AN "EARMARK WAR": Not to be outdone, Nancy Pelosi is already considering "upping the Democratic ante," says Jillian Bandes in Townhall.com, and

matching the GOP with a full-fledged moratorium on earmark requests. Who knows where this will end? "It's rare, but sometimes petty politics can mean progress."

"Earmarks-be-gone: Reform by House Republicans" A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com DON'T GET YOUR HOPES UP:

Sorry, but this week's tit-for-tat battle isn't "likely to end or even alter the earmarking process in a major way," say the editors of CQPolitics. No matter what happens

in the House, the lawmakers who hold the purse strings in the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans, are happy with things just the way they are. "House Republicans embrace one-year

moratorium on earmarks"