There's some tension right now in the Republican party. Conservative Republicans, including many newly elected ones, see earmarks as a symbol of the inherent corruption of government spending (they don't add up to much in the budget, but the symbolism is important).

"Business-as-usual" Republicans are quite happy to be passing out loot in return for political power. As I posted a while back, the real reason the Republicans in Washington wanted the Senate so badly that they pushed RINOs ahead of conservatives was that they wanted control of those coveted committees, and the loot spigots that go with them.

You saw the elections in Alaska and Delaware. There are a lot of entrenched Republicans who don't like conservative reform any more than Democrats do. "Conservative" and "Republican" are not congruent sets.

Here's an excellent place to browse who's passing out the loot and where.