Earmarking the entitlements

GOP split over earmarks in ethics bill
What a surprise that is. Set to write their own ethics reform, Republican congressmen can’t quite come to reducing their access to those special perks of the job. Earmarking, for slow learners, means “elected officials using their positions on appropriations committees to push through pet projects, many of which are not disclosed to the Members voting on them.”
It’s closely related to pork barreling, but as Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham amply demonstrated, can just as easily be diverted for private gain.
The lobbying bill, which requires lobbyists to report more frequently on their work to influence lawmakers and temporarily bans privately sponsored travel by House members, allows lawmakers to raise points of order against appropriations, or spending bills that do not properly identify earmarks.
But Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (Republican California) said it was unfair that the crackdown on earmarks was limited to spending bills, and did not apply to tax and authorization, or policy, bills.
A reform bill that "does not touch on the 'Bridge to Nowhere' is not really reform," Lewis said.

The whole issue could be solved satisfactorily, without angst or rancor, by appointing an independent commission, composed of people with no vested interest in appropriations and their dubious rewards. As hard as they might try, congress will never overcome the pecuniary and electoral self interest tied into their role as lawmakers.
At best they will the obvious perks, but notions of entitlement will pull many members up short on reforms which reflect an unambiguous service to their country, free of perks and advantages.