Number of Earmarks Per Year, originally uploaded by Rob Bluey.

Sen. Jim DeMint is as frustrated as anyone on Capitol Hill about the failure of Democrats to wrap up work on the federal budget. With 11 of the 12 appropriations bill unfinished and U.S. troops in need of funding, DeMint sees the next couple weeks as the GOP’s best opportunity to stand firm on fiscal restraint. Rather than adopting a massive omnibus spending bill, DeMint has a simple plan to save taxpayers $31 billion by passing a continuing resolution instead.

DeMint’s idea goes back to the end-game strategy that Republicans successfully employed last year after November’s disastrous elections. Rather than try to push through appropriations bills in a hostile Congress, the GOP instead reauthorized funding at fiscal 2006 levels. That meant spending was held in check and pork-barrel projects were cut dramatically.

Following that same strategy this year would save taxpayers $31 billion — the amount of new Democrat spending and earmarks. Here’s how DeMint described it during a meeting with conservative bloggers at the Heritage Foundation earlier this week:

Last year we were able to stop the omnibus and get a continuing resolution, which meant the government is operating on Republican priorities. We didn’t change social policies, we didn’t fund new Democrat programs last year. And if we had another continuing resolution this year, we would, in effect, go into our second year of not shifting a lot of this funding toward Democrat priorities.

There’s only one problem. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a veteran appropriator, is likely to stand in the way. McConnell told National Journal’s CongressDaily earlier this week, “Given the lack of time available, the best way to deal with the troop funding issue would be in the context of some kind of settlement on an overall omnibus appropriation bill.”

That’s exactly what has DeMint worried. He fears that his Republican colleagues, after fighting for fiscal responsibility throughout much of 2007, might be tempted to take the Democrats’ bait and vote for the massive omnibus and troop funding bill as the year draws to a close.

When you see any of us [Republicans] talking about merging troop funding with an omnibus, you know we’re losing. And you know that [Democrats are] going to use that human sheild — those troops — as hostage to get through something that should not pass this Congress.

DeMint’s idea should appeal to conservatives for several reasons. First of all, it locks in spending that was set by Republicans when they controlled Congress. Secondly, it prevents the Democrats from realigning the federal government to suit their interests through the creation of new programs and additional funding. And finally, it would constrain earmarks, which would grow substantially in an omnibus.

On his Senate blog, DeMint has posted a graph (pictured above) that shows the dramatic drop in earmarks last year. Although both Republicans and Democrats promised to trim that number in half, it’s unclear what they’re using as a baseline. Even so, a massive omnibus would likely challenge the all-time record for earmarks of 13,997. Congress is already on pace to have 12,000.

Republicans have witnessed firsthand the corrupting influence of earmarks and voters’ anger over fiscal restraint. It helped cost them Congress in 2006. The question before the GOP today is whether Republicans will once again return to the favor factory — now controlled by Democrats — or instead fight for American taxpayers who are fed with up this behavior.