House and Senate members, free to pig out on congressional “earmarks” for the first time in a decade, went on a binge in the new spending bill, according to a Senate tabulation.
In running up a $5 billion to $10 billion tab, the cost of lawmaker projects topped the $4 billion set aside for new aid to Ukraine, to which members successfully steered the media’s attention.
Several members and groups have pulled lists of the excessive spending together, led by a 367-page report from Indiana Sen. Mike Braun, who tried to kill the new spending.
His list details the projects, including which department will cough up the money and which lawmaker sought the earmarked funds.
“There was more earmark spending on Congress’s pet projects in this bill than there was on humanitarian aid to Ukraine,” Braun told Secrets.
“D.C. got rid of earmarks 10 years ago for good reason, and this spending bill full of them proves that the waters of the swamp are rising again,” added Braun, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
As with much of the omnibus spending bill, Braun and most other lawmakers were kept in the dark about the bill until very early Thursday morning. His team worked overtime to come up with the spending list.
The Left has decidedly stuffed $8 Billion in earmarks to fund radical far-Left wish list items.
Thank you @SenatorBraun for protecting the paychecks of hardworking Americans with your amendment to cut the funding for these pet projects. https://t.co/tl7jP3sIlL
— Heritage Action (@Heritage_Action) March 11, 2022
Also on the attack has been Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform, whose John Kartch has listed several of the headline items — including a ski jump in New Hampshire.
Earmarks reached such a scandal level during the early 2000s that they were banned in 2011.
Leaders from both sides praised the ban, but some have returned to the trough in the new bill. According to Braun’s list, for example, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer put in for 142 earmarks at a cost of about $258 million.
