Reps. John Boehner (Ohio), Adam Putnam (Fla.) and Eric Cantor (Va.) are the only Republican leaders who have voted for more than half of the anti-earmark amendments offered on the House floor since the 2006 election.

GOP leaders are grappling with how to deal with earmarks in the wake of losing control of Congress amid frustration from the Republican base that spending on lawmakers’ pet projects has gotten out of control.

Minority Leader Boehner – who is one of a handful of lawmakers who does not pursue earmarks — voted 60 percent of the time to strip earmarks while Conference Chair Putnam’s figure was 54 percent.

Chief Deputy Whip Cantor voted for 82 percent of the amendments.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) voted for 22 percent of the amendments while Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) voted to eliminate only one earmark.

Some Republican leaders dismiss many of the 50 amendments as political tools that are aimed at ginning up publicity.

Boehner was the sole GOP leader who voted to eradicate the earmark that attracted a majority of votes on the floor last year: a $129,000 provision for the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree Project, sponsored by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

However, most of the Republican votes for the amendments — 31 of them offered by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) — sought to kill Democratic earmarks.

 Like Boehner, House Democratic leaders — Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.), Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.) and Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) — all voted to cut McHenry’s project. None of these leaders voted to kill another earmark in 2007.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) does not usually register roll call votes.

 McCotter said it was pointless to vote for removing earmarks that make a “horrible bill less terrible,” adding that many of the amendments offered are done so for purely political purposes. Instead, he said he chooses to vote against the whole bill, even when his earmarks are at stake.