It seems now that there is a healthy competition between Blunt and Boehner in terms of endorsing reforms. Boehner has sent a letter to House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-CA) with suggestions for lobbying reform legislation. The part that Boehner folks is highlighting is this one: “Enacting a ban on unauthorized earmarks for private entities that serve private interests at the expense of the public interest.” Someone from his camp puts it this way, “Boehner has always been opposed to earmarks, and has voted against every highway bill since he’s been in Congress. Loosely translated, he’s calling for a ban on pork projects for lobbyists.” Here is more from the letter:

In the long term, I believe we must take sweeping steps aimed at restoring trust between the American people and the government that serves them. Those steps include:
–Enacting a ban on unauthorized earmarks for private entities that serve private interests at the expense of the public interest.
–Ending loopholes that exempt taxpayer-funded government lobbyists from congressional ethics rules.
In the short term, I believe we must take some immediate steps to cast some sunshine into the process and show the American public Republicans are serious about changing the culture of Washington. Those steps include:
–Requiring lobbying firms, lobbyists, and their political action committees to disclose more information about their campaign contributions to federal candidates and officeholders, their political action committees, and political party committees.
–Convening a task force of current House Members who have previously served in state government to identify best practices currently in place at the state level.
–Bring greater transparency to the lobbying industry. As I noted earlier this week to our colleagues, anyone can call himself or herself a lobbyist, recruit clients, and make appearances on their behalf on the Hill. Clearer standards and greater transparency would promote greater institutional integrity and protect against those in the industry who put their own short-term interests against the public trust.
–Reforming laws affecting so-called “527″ organizations by repealing the aggregate limit on contributions by individuals, increasing the limits for House and Senate candidates facing wealthy opponents, repealing the limit on the amount of party expenditures on behalf of candidates in general elections, index limits on the amount of contributions made to or by multi-candidate political committees.