After campaigning for months on a promise to tighten ethics rules, Senate Democratic leaders tried unsuccessfully on Thursday to block a measure that would shine a light on the shadowy practice of earmarking federal funds for lawmakers' pet projects.
Last week House Democrats passed an unexpectedly broad change to their chamber's rules that would disclose the size, purpose and sponsor of any earmark.
But on Thursday, when Republican Senator Jim DeMint introduced a similar proposal in the Senate, Democratic leaders moved quickly to squash it, calling the House bill poorly thought out.
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said he was happy to see the House "moving things along very quickly."
However, of the Senate measure, he said: "Frankly, I don't think they spent the time on this that we have."
The Democratic leaders' effort to block the DeMint proposal was defeated by a vote of 51-46, surprising almost everyone in the Senate.
The outcome reflected the keen desire of many lawmakers to appear to be on the side of openness and reform after an election that turned in part on congressional corruption scandals.
The reputation of earmarks -- pet projects that individual lawmakers tuck into complicated bills behind the scenes -- was tarnished because they figured in several of the scandals.
But they are cherished by lawmakers of both parties as a tool of political power used to reward supporters and gain favor with constituents.
On Thursday night, Jim Manley, a spokesman for Reid, said, "We are continuing to negotiate with Republicans on how to deal with earmark reform."
Reid started the week by introducing a bipartisan ethics and lobbying proposal negotiated with the Republican leader, Senator Mitch McConnell.
It contained a comparatively weak measure on earmarks that would require disclosure of the individual lawmakers sponsoring only a small fraction of them.
The bill excluded all earmarks dispensed through the federal government, including defense contracts and civil engineering projects, which are two of the largest recipients of earmarks.
It also excluded all earmarks written in the explanatory reports that accompany spending bills, rather than in the bills themselves.
Reid offered his own amendment that would ban gifts or trips from lobbyists to congressmen and the discounted use of corporate jets, but he left the weak earmark provision intact.
DeMint's amendment to the ethics bill would have eliminated the loopholes and would apparently apply to all earmarks, just as the new House rules will do.
After the move to block it failed, Reid and Senator Richard Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, argued vigorously against the measure, saying it could have unintended effects.
"Earmark disclosure will be a major change in the way the Senate works," Reid said.
"We should adopt the Reid-McConnell version rather than the Senate version in the DeMint amendment. If we need to revisit the issue later, we can do that," he said.
DeMint argued that if the original bill was not strengthened, "the public's going to know from day one that the idea of being open and transparent is just a scam."
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