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...