List of those who eschew pork is lean

Last update: February 13, 2008 - 8:59 PM

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Only a dozen House members and half as many senators declined to play in Congress' pork barrel playground last year by refusing to ask for home state projects, a Washington-based watchdog group said Wednesday.

Their more than 500 colleagues filled the gap, obtaining more than $18 billion worth of these so-called earmarks, according to a database assembled by Taxpayers for Common Sense, a budget watchdog group that advocates curbing the practice.

FAMILIAR FACES AT TOP

A familiar club of old-school lawmakers on the pork-dispensing appropriations committees send home the lion's share of the loot, with the most adroit earmarkers obtaining well more than $100 per resident in projects and grants for their states.

The champion is Republican Ted Stevens, who has represented Alaska in the Senate for 40 years. He obtained the lion's share of the $345 million in earmarks his state is getting this year. Alaska's earmarks in 2008 amount to $506 for every resident.

Second: Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who got $330 million this year for West Virginia. It ranks third in terms of pork dollar per resident at $198.

Worth mentioning: Hawaii, represented by Democrat Daniel Inouye, will get $226 per resident in earmarked dollars.

States with larger populations get far less in earmarked money per capita. Massachusetts, for instance, will get just $34 per resident.

WHAT IS AN EARMARK?

The most commonly accepted definition of an earmark is a line-item project not requested by the president but inserted into spending legislation. Changes require lawmakers who obtain earmarks to identify themselves and attest that they don't get any financial reward from them.

TRACKING IS TRICKY

Most of the data is gleaned from reports issued by Congress listing the names of lawmakers obtaining earmarks. In many cases, more than one member of a state delegation requested the same earmark. That makes it difficult to measure exactly who the most aggressive earmarkers are since several lawmakers can claim credit.

MULTIPLE CREDIT

Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is another top practitioner, obtaining $290 million in solo earmarks and $837 million in earmarks requested along with others.

In the House, John Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs the appropriations panel that funds the Defense Department, obtained $160 million in solo earmarks, followed by Jerry Lewis of California, top Republican on the full Appropriations Committee, with $110 million in solo earmarks.

WHO DOESN'T PLAY?

House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., don't ask for pet projects. Democratic senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Claire McCaskill of Missouri were the only members of their party to eschew the practice last year.

However, more lawmakers are promising to give up earmarks. Club for Growth, which seeks to elect lawmakers opposed to tax and spending increases, say they include Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; and Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas; John Kline, R-Minn., and Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

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