House appropriators released their first lists of earmarks Thursday for two spending bills and so far are sticking to a pledge by the chamber’s chief appropriator to reduce earmarks by half in the fiscal 2008 bills.

House Appropriations chairman David R. Obey, D-Wis., has said he planned to cut the dollar value of earmarks in half compared with fiscal 2006 as part of his effort to clean up the earmarking process. That reduction will not apply to “project-based accounts,” however, which are essentially funded entirely by earmarks.

The construction budget of the Army Corps of Engineers, for example, is directed almost entirely by earmarks.

The reports accompanying the Interior-Environment and Financial Services and General Government bills included a list of earmarks, their sponsors and the dollar figure for each earmark.

Sponsors of earmarks were not publicly identified in previous years.

The House’s most vocal earmark critic, Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., had mixed feelings about the increased transparency. “It’s a pretty sad day when a happy day is when you actually get a list of earmarks in the bill. But I guess the alternative is they remain secret,” Flake said. “Better than nothing.”

For the most part, the earmarks were apportioned as they have been in past spending bills, with senior appropriators of both parties receiving the most funding, and other appropriators and many members of leadership receiving substantial amounts.

But Jos?? E. Serrano, D-N.Y., chairman of the Financial Services panel, took an unorthodox approach, dividing the funds equally among the 100-plus Democrats who requested earmarks. “I personally took the most profound approach ever or the wimpiest approach ever,” he said.

That meant that Serrano was slated to get $231,000 for two projects, the same amount as Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and freshman Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C. Pelosi’s earmark was for the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association for an urban center.

Democrat James P. Moran of Virginia was less than thrilled with Serrano’s decision. “It’s the wimpiest,” he said.

The ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Ralph Regula of Ohio, took a different approach in spreading money among GOP members. He was the biggest beneficiary of earmarks on his panel, receiving $1.35 million for four projects; the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations panel, Jerry Lewis of California, received $1 million, split between Barracks Row and the Historic Congressional Cemetery, both in Washington, D.C.

Other House GOP appropriators also received substantial funding, including Denny Rehberg of Montana, who would get $400,000 for the Montana World Trade Center, and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas, who would receive $500,000 for the International Youth Service and Development Corps.

Also, conservative Republican Study Committee member Patrick T. McHenry, of North Carolina — who helped lead the fight last week to require that earmarks and their sponsors be listed before conference — is slated to get $129,000 for The Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree project, a small-business development program in Mitchell County, N.C.

“I’m proud to support economic development in my district,” McHenry said. Mitchell County, which has a workforce of 7,500, has suffered the loss of 2,000 manufacturing jobs in the past five years, according to information provided by his office.

When asked about the earmark, Regula said to ask McHenry about it. “He’s against earmarks, but — I don’t pass judgment,” Regula said. “I don’t want to tell the sponsor you don’t know what you’re doing. He got elected. He’s got to answer to folks back home and to you.”

In total, the Financial Services bill included 165 earmarks, 17 of which were classified as administration requests. The 148 congressional requests totaled $33.7 million. The fiscal 2006 funding level was $135 million. The majority of fiscal 2007 bills were funded by a year-long continuing resolution that did not include any new earmarks.

The Interior-Environment bill provided funding for 321 projects, 93 requested by President Bush, with 228 congressional requests costing $119 million. In fiscal 2006, Congress provided $476 million for congressional earmarks in the bill.

Interior Subcommittee Chairman, Norm Dicks, D-Wash., secured some of the largest earmarks, including $2.5 million for National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Endangered Species Grants. Appropriator Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., secured $2 million for the Moccasin Bend National Archeological District.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., is slated to receive $500,000 for the City of Joplin for the Wildwood Ranch Sewer.

Republican appropriator Jack Kingston of Georgia said the new transparency rules were beneficial but could cause problems back home for lawmakers. “You don’t want one city to know what the next city’s doing and wondering why one got an earmark and the other four did not,” he said.

The handling of earmarks in the Senate Appropriations panel has gone smoothly, according to members. The panel is approving bills this month with earmark sponsors and their purpose listed in reports accompanying the legislation as part of a plan announced in April by Chairman Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and the panel’s ranking Republican, Thad Cochran of Mississippi. “It’s open, it’s transparent,” said Judd Gregg, R-N.H.

In the Senate, Appropriations panels have more latitude than in the House. “Here’s what I do,” Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, Labor-HHS-Education chairman, said in a recent interview. “I handle the Democrats and [Pennsylvania’s Arlen Specter, the panel’s ranking Republican] handles the Republicans, and he’s always done that with me. So I let him vet the Republicans. I don’t have time to do all that. He has to take care of all that, not me.”

The Labor-HHS-Education measure includes $1 million for Philadelphia and $500,000 for Pittsburgh for youth mentoring programs Specter requested. It also provides an earmark for the 2009 Special Winter Olympics, to be held in Idaho.

David Clarke and Alex Wayne contributed to this story.