Well, it looked like the paltry earmark reform measure wouldn’t pass earlier today, but pass it did. By a vote of 245-171 congressmen approved a measure that will shine some light onto some earmarks. As expected Republican appropriators voted against the measure along with the majority of Democrats who called the measure too little, too late. The Associated Press lede shows that the Congress has not exactly fulfilled their promises to enact sweeping ethics and lobbying legislation, "The House is taking a modest step to bring into the open special projects lawmakers slip into legislation, seemingly abandoning more ambitious plans to clean up lawmaker relations with lobbyists." Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has asked the chair and ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee to come up with a similar rule as the House earmark reform rule.