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WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders will meet this week to consider new transparency rules for congressional earmarks.

Republicans have been developing ways, including new legislation, to improve the earmark process, which has become a major political issue this election year. Both presumptive presidential candidates are advocating for changes to how pet projects are funded.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell hopes to strike a deal with Democrats to implement new rules for requesting funding for specific projects by both parties. Failing that, McConnell is expected to call on Republicans to adopt the recommendations unilaterally.

The GOP recommendations include specifically listing earmarks in the text of appropriation bills; returning funding to the federal treasury for earmarks stripped from bills; and requiring earmark requests to be posted on the requesting senator’s Web site before being considered by the Senate.

The Republican earmark working group includes outspoken earmark critic Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. The Senate is split over the recommendations and Democrats have resisted previous GOP calls for an earmark moratorium, saying it’s nothing more than election-year pandering.

Earmark opponents insist the process is wasteful and ripe for abuse by lawmakers seeking to curry favor with their campaign contributors.

Defenders of the process, including Sen. Ted Stevens, argue earmarks are an efficient means of delivering tax revenue to constituents in their home states. Without earmarks, which account for just 1 percent of the federal budget, it would solely be up to the federal agencies to determine which projects deserved funding, they say.

In response to criticism, Stevens began posting earmark requests on his Senate Web site.

Congress approved 11,234 earmarks worth $14.8 billion in 2007, according to the budget watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Berkowitz gets national Democratic support

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has added Ethan Berkowitz to the list of candidates it expects to capture seats in the House of Representatives traditionally held by Republicans.

On Wednesday, the DCCC announced Berkowitz qualified for its Red to Blue program by meeting strict fundraising goals.

The program, which now covers more than three dozen candidates, provides support in races where Republican-held seats are considered likely to flip.

The decision means the DCCC will throw its financial and staffing resources behind the Anchorage Democrat in his race to capture the House seat occupied by Republican Don Young for the past 35 years.

During the 2006 election, the program raised nearly $22.6 million for 56 candidates, or an average of $404,000 per campaign, according to the committee.

“Ethan Berkowitz will be a strong and independent voice for Alaska,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen said in a prepared statement. “The Red to Blue Program will give Ethan the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive.”

Berkowitz must first defeat Diane Benson in the Democratic primary in August. A DCCC spokesman said the committee believes Berkowitz is the candidate to beat in the primary and the one the majority of Alaskan Democrats are rallying behind.

“It’s a testament to the fact that we think his campaign is operating well,” the DCCC spokesman said.

The state’s largest federation of labor unions and trade councils also threw its support behind Berkowitz last week.

“Ethan’s record in the Legislature speaks for itself,” said Vince Beltrami, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO. “During his 10 years in the state House, he was an effective, passionate advocate for issues important to working families.”

The DCCC hopes to turn Alaska’s lone seat in the U.S. House blue for the first time since 1972, the year Democratic Rep. Nick Begich disappeared on a flight from Anchorage to Juneau.

The campaign group is banking on beating the odds and expanding its majority in the House by as many as 20 seats in November. Traditionally, voters don’t hand a party two major victories in a row. Democrats swept to power in the House in the 2006 election.

Senate race still tight

A recent Rasmussen Reports survey puts Sen. Stevens slightly ahead of Democratic challenger Mark Begich.

The telephone poll of 500 likely voters found Stevens leads Begich 46 percent to 44 percent. That’s a switch from a month ago when a previous survey showed Begich ahead by 2 percentage points. The survey has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.

Stevens, 84, is still viewed favorably by 51 percent of voters, up 5 percent from last month. Those with a negative opinion of the senator have slipped from 53 percent last month to 44 percent now, according to the survey.

Begich’s favorables and unfavorables seem to have stabilized somewhat, with 55 percent having a positive opinion of the Anchorage mayor and 36 percent having a negative opinion. Previous surveys in April and May showed similar numbers.

Stevens, the longest serving Republican in the Senate, was re-elected in 2002 with 78 percent of the vote.

The Alaska District Council of Laborers and the Alaska Telephone Association announced last week that they were endorsing Stevens’ bid to win a seventh term.

Begich last week won the endorsement of the AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor organization representing more than 60,000 union members statewide.

Senate passes improved 911 access

The Senate on Monday approved a bill to approve access to the 911 emergency system.

The bill would require 911 network operators to allow customers who use voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) to access the emergency call system regardless of their service provider. It would also require VoIP providers to supply customers with enhanced 911 service, which automatically provides 911 dispatchers with the caller’s address and telephone number.

The legislation would also grant the Federal Communications Commission the authority to add 911 requirements to all new phone and communication services as they evolve, without the need for Congress to pass additional legislation. The provision was authored by Sen. Stevens.

The measure is an important first step in improving access to 911 services for rural residents and addresses the growing popularity of VoIP technology, said Steve Wackowski, Stevens’ spokesman.

Double blessings for Stevens’ office

There must be something in the water cooler at Sen. Stevens’ Hart Senate office.

Two of the senator’s top staffers have celebrated the birth of twins this year.

Christine Kurth, Stevens’ staff director and general counsel on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, delivered twin boys June 18. Christine is married to Tim Kurth. The boys are Cannon John Kurth and Christian Kenneth Kurth.

In March, George Lowe, Stevens’ chief of staff, and his wife, Jennifer, had George “Quinn” Henry Lowe V and Grace Alta Lowe.

Both Christine and George grew up in Anchorage. Christine graduated from Bartlett High, George from West High.

George has worked for Stevens since graduating college in 1993, starting at the front desk and working his way up to chief of staff after a three-year break for law school.

Christine was a lawyer in Anchorage before taking a job with Stevens in 2000.

A mile in his shoes

A Blackberry isn’t the only device clipped to Sen. Stevens waistband these days.

For the past few weeks, the senator, and most of his staff, have been sporting a pedometer to measure the number of steps taken daily.

It’s all part of the six-week Walking Works Capitol Hill Challenge contest sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. The insurer handed out free pedometers to some 3,500 Capitol Hill staffers for the challenge.

Stevens’ office was in first place in the overall category after week five, which ended June 17. Stevens’ staff has walked 4,650 miles so far, more than 100 miles ahead of the office of second-place Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio.

The Stevens team was in 12th place in the category of average miles per walker, with 76.24 miles.

The contest ends June 25. Winning teams will have donations to charity made in their name.

And finally ...

KFQD talk radio host Dan Fagan and Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich were both spotted wandering the halls of the Capitol Building last week, albeit separately.

Contact Washington correspondent R.A. Dillon at dcnews@newsminer.com.