PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Henry Waxman swears off earmarks this year:

This pesky earmark issue just won’t go away.

After members of the majority had all but ignored Republican calls for a one-year moratorium on lawmaker-requested projects, one prominent Demorcrat stoked those dying embers on Tuesday; Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Henry A. Waxman (Calif.) issued a released pledging not to request special projects in any of the upcoming spending bills this year. And he recommended his colleagues to do the same.

“We have a problem in Congress,” Waxman said. “Congressional spending through earmarks is out of control.”

He’s right. And this puts pressure on the G.O.P. to stay serious on this issue.