Newly emboldened earmark foes are calling on President Obama to back up his opposition to pork-barrel spending with action.

Mr. Obama, who stopped requesting earmarks during his final year in the Senate, has used his bully pulpit to call for reform of the process by which lawmakers direct federal funding to pet projects. He even made it the sole focus of a recent weekly address, identifying earmarks as a possible area of bipartisan cooperation with the GOP.

But the president has signed billions of the sometimes-controversial projects into law during his first two years in office - even though he has later expressed regret for doing so...

The anti-pork brigade in Congress is poised to receive massive reinforcements next year, with nearly every non-incumbent GOP Senate candidate and hordes of House hopefuls swearing off earmarks themselves or even ready to consider an outright ban for all lawmakers.

That potential influx means a showdown with old-guard lawmakers - of both parties - who consider earmarking a central congressional prerogative. It also could mean a reversal of fortunes for critics such as Sen. Jim DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who has fought unsuccessfully to get his party to stop the practice.

"I will force a vote in the SenateGOP conference to ban earmarks next year," said Mr. DeMint, who has endorsed candidates supporting a ban. "I believe this will pass, and Republicans will be unified against the wasteful and corrupt earmark system"...

What do mariachi classes, wine studies and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have in common?

They were all funded by federal Department of Education earmarks, according to an extensive new report released Thursday by Sen. Tom Coburn.

The Oklahoma Republican, in a study called "School House Pork," is urging the federal government to suspend these education "slush funds" after finding that lawmakers have secured 5,563 such earmarks, worth $2.3 billion over the past decade. While earmark advocates argue they're a way to ensure taxpayer money is going toward worthy projects, Coburn's report claims the recipients often were not "deserving or needy" of the extra funding...

The first spending bill to begin moving through Congress since House Republicans pledged to forgo earmarks shows the vow is working: The bill contains nearly 50 percent less in pork-barrel spending than last year's version.

The 2011 homeland security spending bill, which was approved by a House subcommittee last week, includes just one Republican earmark. And just as telling, House Democrats' earmarks dropped dramatically, with the dollar amount down nearly 20 percent from last year's bill.

"Essentially, the vacuum that was created by virtually no Republican earmarks wasn't backfilled by more Democratic earmarks, and in fact, Democrats actually took less than they did last year," said Steve Ellis, vice president at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group. "There is a fear of overstepping the earmarking bounds, and also a commitment to at least further whittling away at earmark levels"...

Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, after securing a sweetheart deal for his state as part of the health insurance reform bill, said Tuesday that three other senators have told him they want to bargain for the same kind of special treatment.

"Three senators came up to me just now on the (Senate) floor, and said, 'Now we understand what you did. We'll be seeking this funding too'," Nelson said.

But the Democratic senator, who has faced a heap of criticism for appearing to trade his vote on health care for millions in federal Medicaid money, said he's considering asking that the Nebraska deal be stripped from the bill...

A congressional analyst says abortion funding, cost, and the public option will be the central points of the debate that is set to begin in the U.S. Senate on healthcare legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), in an effort to win the vote of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana), included language in the Senate bill that would specifically increase federal Medicaid subsidies for Louisiana. It was initially reported that the earmark cost was $100 million, but Landrieu corrected the record, saying: "It's $300 million, and I'm proud of it and will keep fighting for it."

Brian Darling, director of Senate relations for The Heritage Foundation, predicts there will be more pay-off attempts when debate begins in the Senate on November 30...

In the next 16 days, Congress will spend more than $3 trillion in taxpayer money. To cover these programs, some Americans will be working up to three hours of each day.

Vast amounts of that money will be spent in the form of earmarks, specially designated pet projects that members of Congress use to bring federal funds back to their home states. Since 44 congressmen make no earmarks at all, that means the rest are doing more than their share. For example, in the House, just 4 percent of members took home 32 percent of all the bacon -- and all were members of the Defense Appropriations Committee.

With Washington bleeding green, some congressmen -- the princes of pork -- are treating you like a giant ATM and can't spend your money fast enough...

Two aging symbols of Congress' penchant for pouring billions into lawmakers' pet
projects are stepping aside next year. While their departure will probably do
little to change Capitol Hill's culture of spending, the biggest challenge may
come from an unlikely source — Barack Obama.

Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has become increasingly frail and announced he will
relinquish the chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which
controls over $1 trillion annually in federal spending...