United States Senators Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., introduced the Earmark Elimination Act of 2011 on Wednesday before the Senate. The bipartisan legislation is to target earmarks, or provisions in bills that direct funds to specific, often special interest, projects.

“I’ve always opposed earmarks and have never backed down from a fight,” McCaskill said in a news release. “When I got to the Senate and sought to end earmarking, folks patted me on the head, and said that earmarks weren’t going away because they were part of the culture.”

The act would permanently ban all earmarks, which it defines as any congressionally directed spending item, limited tax benefit, or limited tariff benefit, according to the news release.

In addition, the bill would create a point of order against any legislation that is brought before congress containing an earmark. In these cases, it would then require a two-thirds vote to waive the specific earmark.

“In time, we achieved a temporary ban on earmarks,” she said. “But it’s not enough. With politicians on both sides of the aisle creatively trying to get around the ban, and talking openly about ending it, it’s time to end earmarks permanently.”

This is not the first instance of McCaskill and Toomey campaigning against earmarks. Last year, the two co-authored an op-ed urging Congress to stop the practice of wasteful earmarks.

“Sure, we probably disagree on more things than we agree, but when it comes to the important issue of cutting wasteful federal spending and changing ‘business as usual’ in Washington, we could not be more in sync,” read the op-ed, which ran in USAToday last November.

The bill comes in light of members of the Senate, including Senate Committee on Appropriations chairman Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, asking for the ability to utilize earmarks after the current moratorium on the issue expires in 2013, according to an article in Roll Call, a Washington-based newspaper.