Sens. Cochran, Stevens lead in earmark tally

Senior Republican appropriators in the Senate have collected more money in earmarks than any other members of Congress, even though President Bush and GOP leaders have forcefully criticized “pork-barrel spending.”

Not only have these lawmakers defied their leaders, they have also taken a much greater share of the pot set aside for rank-and-file Republicans than have senior Democrats. As a result, some on the Hill are grumbling privately that GOP appropriators are “not only the kings of pork, they’re outright hogs,” in the words of one Senate Republican aide.

{mosads}But Republican appropriators argue they are following the rules, that their work is open to public scrutiny, and that they are taking care of their constituents’ needs. They also say that Bush is holding them to a double standard by submitting to Congress specific spending requests while deriding lawmakers’ spending priorities as wasteful earmarks.  

Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, has collected $774 million worth of earmarks in 12 spending bills. After Cochran, Sen. Ted Stevens (Alaska), the second-ranking Republican on Appropriations, secured more money for special projects than any other member of Congress: $502 million.

Rep. Bill Young (Fla.), the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, is the second-biggest recipient of earmarked funds in the House, securing $161 million. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), the subcommittee’s chairman, secured $162 million in funds.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan group that tracks earmarks and federal spending, compiled the figures.

The Republicans’ status as the biggest earmark winners in Congress is surprising because they no longer enjoy majority control. As a result, they have seen their share of the federal spending pie sliced by a third.

The majority party typically gets to allocate 60 percent of the federal funds set aside for special projects such as waterworks, roads, defense contracts and housing. Members of the minority have 40 percent to divvy among themselves.

 Although the GOP share shrunk significantly, senior Republican appropriators still managed to win more funding for their pet projects than senior Democratic appropriators.

“This shows funds are much more equitably divided on the Democratic side than on the Republican side,” said Scott Lilly, who formerly served as the Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. “Republicans are getting about a third less than the Democrats and the biggest [individual] recipients are Republicans.

“The concentration in a few baskets on the Republican side is much greater than anything on the Democratic side,” added Lilly, who is now a fellow at the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank. He added that top Republicans view their seniority “as providing them the right to take a huge portion of the moneys that are earmarked.

They think the appropriate amount is much higher than people on [the Democratic] side of the aisle.”

Brian Riedl, senior budget analyst at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, said the Republican Party is split over earmarks.

“I’m not sure the Republican Party has really settled on what it thinks about earmarks,” said Riedl. “Ever since the 2006 election, a lot of Republicans have gone out of their way to criticize earmarks, but a lot more Republicans have gone out of their way to receive earmarks.”

Young said it would be wrong to assume that the earmarks he has placed in various spending bills are for his personal political benefit. He said he has helped secure funding for two military bases that are not in his district: Camp Blanding, located in northern Florida, and an air national guard facility in Jacksonville.

“It’s not local, not pork. It has to do with national security and homeland security,” said Young. “

Young said that senior Defense Department officials come to him with requests for the military at large because he is the former chairman of the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee and the panel’s current ranking member.

Rep. Jerry Lewis (Calif.), ranking Republican on the full Appropriations panel, rounded out the top three House earmarkers. He collected $137 million in funds, far more than the Democratic chairman, Rep. David Obey (Wis.). Obey has his name attached to $90 million worth of projects in various spending bills.

A spokesman for Cochran said his boss has done everything by the rules and out in the open.

“Sen. Cochran supports funding for projects that are beneficial to the nation,” said Adam Telle. “He’s very transparent in what he supports and he supports full disclosure.

“He would like to see the remaining appropriations bills enacted in a fiscally responsible way,” Telle added.

Congress still must clear 11 of the 12 annual bills funding government operations. Bush has signed only defense spending legislation into law.

Stevens spokesman Aaron Saunders said that the millions his boss won for Alaska would fund vital projects as well as military service members from other states who are stationed there.

“A lot of money is benefiting men and women in uniform,” he said.

“Alaska has very unique needs,” Saunders added. “I don’t think there are many parts of country that say they don’t have access to running water or sewage facilities.”