Alexander, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said many of those earmarks were for costly Army Corps of Engineers water projects along the Mississippi River that other Louisiana members asked him to request.

Alexander said he supports more transparency for earmarks, including posting them on the Internet, and understands there have been abuses. But he added, “Let’s don’t abandon the system we have put in place because someone has abused the system.”

Rep. Michael N. Castle , R-Del, who secured $42.3 million in earmarks in the omnibus, said he would be willing to forgo earmarks if all lawmakers agreed to do so but would not do so on his own.

“I am not going to abandon my state by unilaterally deciding I won’t take earmarks,” he said. Castle also suggested that earmarks are not the best target for critics of bloated federal spending.

“It is a very minor part of spending that goes on,” he said.

The split within the rank and file comes as leading Republicans such as Boehner and Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz., have zeroed in on the number of earmarks in the omnibus in recent weeks, putting Obama in an awkward spot after having campaigned against earmarks.

“This evil has grown and it has grown and it has grown to the point where we now have close to 9,000 earmarks,” McCain said.

But Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell sponsored or cosponsored 53 earmarks worth $75.5 million in the omnibus, according one analysis.

In November, Boehner and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor proposed an amendment to House Republican rules to place a moratorium on earmark requests by GOP members until a Republican earmark reform panel came up with recommendations. However, that amendment was rejected by GOP lawmakers. The proposed moratorium on earmarks for the fiscal year 2010 spending bills has been discussed by Republicans but there has been no agreement on how to proceed.

Boehner has made some progress on earmark bans with some in his party.

Rep. Darrell Issa , the ranking Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, announced he would not request earmarks in next year’s budget.

“After eight years in office, it’s become to clear to me that projects are not judged on the merits but on the seniority and power of the requesting member or lobbyist,” Issa said. “Congress’ spending process is broken and out of control.” However, Issa still has 13 earmarks valued at $7.6 million in the omnibus.

“We’re continuing to work on it and try and find some unified position to make sure if there is spending it is transparent,” Boehner said.

Boehner has named a task force led by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers , R-Wash., to come up with a policy on earmarks. The task force is not expected to recommend eliminating earmarks but how to make the process more transparent.

Even though Republican leaders have been promising the report for several weeks, Rodgers said she was not yet ready to release the recommendations.

“We are working through some of the final issues,” she said.

Republicans defend themselves by arguing that the ”bigger story is Democrats are not talking about earmark reform at all,” as Rep. Mike Pence , R-Ind., put it.

Obama was expected Wednesday to make a statement on earmarks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., said recently she was open to discussing an earmark overhaul with Obama in regard to drafting the fiscal 2010 budget. Democrats say they have sought to cut in half the number of earmarks from the fiscal year 2006 level of $17 billion to $8.5 billion in next year’s spending measures.

But other Democratic leaders, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer , D-Md., have signalled that the White House should back off trying to tell Congress how to conduct the appropriations process.