A push by a group of Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee, including Montana Rep. Denny Rehberg, to suspend the use of earmarks while reforms are studied might be seen as "political" by some.

But after all, what goes on in Congress that isn't political? That doesn't mean it isn't a good idea.

Earmarks -- line-item appropriations sought by members of Congress to pay for specific projects in their home districts -- have been around for a long time, but in recent years they've ballooned into a significant part of the government's budget process. Disturbingly, they've also become a real boon to lobbyists, who tout their ability to get earmarked projects inserted into the budget out of the public eye, and with no sponsor's name attached.

In his successful campaign to replace Conrad Burns in the Senate, Jon Tester made secretive earmarks a major part of his message.

Rehberg and the other GOP committee members don't want to do away with earmarks for good -- after all, what's worse, elected congressmen making decisions about specific budgeting proposals that they believe are important for their constituents, or anonymous executive-branch bureaucrats making all the decisions?

But Rehberg and his colleagues do want to halt earmarking while a special bipartisan panel holds hearings and recommends reform within six months. Rehberg said he's particularly interested in establishing a distinction between various types of earmarks, such as spending that has national or military significance rather than just local scope. He added that he is "particularly offended" by President Bush's attempts to earmark spending while bad-mouthing Congress for doing the same thing.

It is interesting that, according to Citizens Against Government Waste, the Democrats have reduced the amount of earmarked spending in recent appropriation bills by about a third compared to the Republican-controlled Congress in 2006. But the fact remains that the public has become deeply distrustful of what is seen as rampant pork-barrel spending -- particularly, of course, spending that takes place in somebody else's state.

A bipartisan effort to bring light into the earmark darkness is a vital step for a Congress whose work gets respect from only one out of five Americans.