The U.S. Senate approved an ethics-reform bill tonight that for the first time will require public disclosure of the recipients and purpose of all Congressional earmarks for academe and other recipients. The bill closely follows a similar measure approved this month by the House of Representatives.

Ironically, Republican senators almost derailed the bill this week because they wanted it to include an additional provision they said was aimed at curbing earmarks, which some observers regard as wasteful, pork-barrel spending — even though it was under Republican control that earmarking skyrocketed.

Sen. Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, proposed on Wednesday an amendment to give the president a line-item veto, in part so that specific earmarks could be stripped from appropriations bills. Senator Gregg, and Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican who is minority leader and who led the charge for Mr. Gregg’s amendment, certainly are familiar with Congressional earmarks; both have been active purveyors in past years of earmarks for colleges in their states.

Democratic senators opposed the amendment as too controversial and nongermane to be included in the overall legislation, and they said the Republicans’ real motive was to kill the entire bill. Democrats did not have enough votes on their own to close off debate on the bill. In the end, Senator Gregg and his colleagues relented, saying they would attempt next week to attach the proposal for a line-item veto to another bill, to raise the minimum wage. The ethics bill was then approved, 96 to 2.