Congressional Democrats used the soaring number and cost of earmarks against Republicans and pledged to reform the practice when they took control of Congress.

Earmarks — some call them pork-barrel projects — are specific funding requests by members of Congress for pet projects inserted in spending legislation, usually at the last minute. Often secretly and without explanation, they escape the customary legislative scrutiny.

When Rep. Nancy Pelosi became House speaker in 2007, she talked about a one-year moratorium on earmarks, but abandoned the plan after the Democratic Senate rejected the idea.

President Bush, adding his voice to the Republican opponents of earmarks (many of whom had once embraced them). He signed legislation last year intended to shed more light on earmarks as part of an ethics and lobbying reform bill. This year he even threatened in his State of the Union address to veto legislation that did not reduce by half the cost and number of earmarks.

Some limits have been placed on earmarks, but a New York Times analysis found that House Democrats led the way in earmarks requests in at least seven bills containing nearly 3,800 earmarks worth $2.7 billion.

According to Citizens Against Government Waste, a nonpartisan watchdog in Washington, a House appropriations bill for labor, health and human services in 2009 now includes $619 million in earmarks, more than double this year's $278 million.

A Department of Homeland Security bill has more than 100 earmarks.

Republicans, once the target of Democratic criticism, have tried to turn the issue against their opposition, but earmarks are popular with members of both parties.

Critics complain that earmarks are a way for lawmakers to reward lobbyists and campaign donors. Despite the rhetoric and promises, earmarks remain an entrenched way of doing business in Congress.