Sadly the number being thrown around for total number of earmarks attached to the 2009 Omnibus Senate Spending Bill is tabulated at around 4,000. While conservatives are preaching the cause of fiscal discipline, elected Republican’s are doing everything they can to make themselves as pork loving as their Democrat counterparts. Luckily Taxpayers for Common Sense has compiled these earmarks into a spreadsheet. I decided to look through this information and try to boil it down and point out the worst offenders.
I will do my best in further posts to give you some examples of just what these Senators are requesting.
A few facts:
Of the top ten Senators requesting the highest amount of $ in solo earmarks 6 are Republicans.
They are:
#2 Shelby – 64 individual earmarks total $114,484,250
#3 Bond – 54 individual earmarks total $95,691,491
#5 Cochran – 65 individual earmarks total $75,908,475
#6 Murkowski – 71 individual earmarks total $74,000,750
#8 Inhofe – 34 individual earmarks total $53,133,500
#9 McConnell – 36 individual earmarks total $51,133,500
Of the top ten Senators requesting highest # of solo earmarks 5 of them are Republicans, four of whom top the list:
#1 Specter – 134 individual earmarks = $25,320,000
#2 Murkowski – 71 individual earmarks = $74,000,750
#3 Chochran – 65 individual earmarks = $75,908,475
#4 Shelby – 64 individual earmarks = $114,484,250
#8 Bond – 54 individual earmarks = $85,691,491
ONLY Republican Senators Coburn, DeMint & McCain are free of earmarks with Feingold & McCaskill on Democrat side joining them.
Below I put together a list of Republican Senators along with the total number of individual earmarks they are requesting and the amount those earmarks run up to. Many of the earmarks were holdovers and that is why Senators who are not in the current session still appear on the list. They have been marked with a * below. Additionally many Senators joined onto other earmarks, those Senators who have $0 in individual earmarks requested but joined with others have ** next to their names.
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