In Senate, Bipartisan Love of Earmarks (Washington Post)

[Louis-Emmanuel]

By Paul Kane Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, March 3, 2009; Page A11

When it comes to big spenders, it's a bipartisan caucus in the Senate. Of the 10 largest spenders in terms of special-interest provisions, six are Republicans and four are Democrats, according to a study of an omnibus spending bill the Senate is considering this week.

Taxpayers for Common Sense, an independent research organization, studied the $410 billion appropriations bill that funds most of the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year through Sept. 30. The measure includes $7.7 billion worth of small-line items that lawmakers direct agencies to spend.

Critics say these "earmarks" are wasteful and potentially corrupting, but defenders say lawmakers have a better sense of the spending needs in their states than bureaucrats do.

Sen. Thad Cochran (Miss.), the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee, has co-sponsored the largest amount of earmarks for the second straight year. These totals do not include earmarks that were part of a bill passed in the fall that provided full funding for the Pentagon, its military bases and the Department of Homeland Security for fiscal 2009.

(Emphasis is mine. Keep reading here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202853.html?wprss=rss_politics )

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Might be handy to keep this list around

just to lay it on freepers who yack about "earmarks".