Earmarks -- The "Haves" And "Have-Nots" -- January 11, 2023

Updates

Later, 8:24 p.m. CT: link here. I have no problem with this. But it sounds like the project is ... well, you decide -- some curb extensions and some paint for the crosswalks and the price tag, $15 million? It turns out that there are 15 projects altogether, not just this.

 Here's the link to the original story. Fifteen projects. Good for her.

Original Post

2010, US Senator Dorgan: link here. 

 2022: US Senator Hoeven: link here.

The annual government spending bill Biden signed in March included 4,983 earmarks, ranging from $133 million to upgrade port facilities in Alabama to $4,000 to buy a vehicle lift for the Huntington, West Virginia, police department.

That money was not distributed evenly: Alaska and Vermont pulled in more than $300 worth of earmarks per resident, according to a Reuters analysis, while North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana got no earmarks at all.

2022: one of the best years ever for earmarks. 

The bigger story: what earmarks were submitted by the ND delegation that were denied by the congressional body?

Science: link here. 

The $1.7 trillion spending package that President Joe Biden signed into law last week does more than fund the entire U.S. government for the first 9 months of this year. Senators and members of the House of Representatives from both parties also used it to funnel $15 billion to 7200 projects in their districts that federal funding agencies never requested. The projects include new research facilities and academic programs at hundreds of public colleges and universities.

That spending signals the robust resurgence of earmarks, the sometimes controversial—and until recently banned—practice in which legislators reward constituents using their constitutional authority over federal spending. The dollar amount and number of earmarks rose by half over last year, according to one count by The New York Times. The new total also tops levels seen before Congress banned the practice in 2010 after some notorious earmarks drew widespread ridicule—and figured in the conviction of one lawmaker for accepting bribes.