Washington, D.C. – Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released a preliminary analysis of earmarks for six House Appropriations bills for fiscal year 2009: Commerce, Justice, and Science; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Interior; Labor, Health and Human Services; and Military Construction.
CAGW will be issuing more detailed information in each bill, including egregious examples of pork and totals for the top porkers.
Below is a list provided by the House Appropriations Committee. CAGW’s figures do not include items identified as “presidential” earmarks.
Commerce, Justice, Science: CAGW has documented 1,123 projects at a cost of $409.8 million.Energy & Water: CAGW found 655 projects at a cost of $821 million.Financial Services: There are 197 projects costing $57 million, which represents a 45 percent increase in projects and an 84 percent increase in dollar amounts from CAGW’s calculation for the fiscal year 2008 House bill.Interior: For fiscal year 2009, CAGW has enumerated 247 projects at a cost of $134.9 million. In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 226 projects worth $111 million in the House bill. The 2009 totals represent a 9.3 percent increase in projects and a 21.5 percent increase in dollar amount from 2008.Labor/HHS: For fiscal year 2009, CAGW calculated that there are 1,370 earmarks at a cost of $618.8 million. In fiscal year 2008, CAGW found 1,305 projects costing $277.9 million in the House bill. The number of projects increased by 5 percent, but the dollar amount jumped by a whopping 122 percent.Military Construction: CAGW found 102 earmarks costing $621.3 million."While House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey recently stated that "the number and cost of earmarks for fiscal year 2009 would be similar to fiscal year 2008, members are already bringing home more bacon than last year. The Senate usually adds more projects than the House, so taxpayers should watch their wallets,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.
Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.