GOP Senators retired from Congress with $1.5B in earmarks for their states.

Retiring Republican Senators Receive Over $1.5 Billion in Earmarks for State Projects

Three retiring Republican senators—Roy Blunt of Missouri, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Richard Shelby of Alabama—received more than $1.5 billion in earmarks for projects in their states as part of last year’s spending bill, according to a new analysis by a nonprofit government watchdog.

The Republican trio’s pork barrel projects were among the more than 7,500 others in the bill, worth in excess of $16 billion. Earmarks are federal tax dollars requested by individual senators and representatives to be included in larger spending bills for projects in their home states or districts.

Tea Party majority Republicans in the House banned earmarks in 2011 in the wake of controversy prompted in 2005 by Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) disclosure of the $223 million earmark to build two bridges to an island with 50 residents in Southeast Alaska. Senate Republicans followed suit in 2014. Coburn, a pediatrician who died in 2020, famously became known as “Dr. No” among Senate colleagues as a result of his opposition to earmarks.

But earmarks returned to Congress when a majority of congressional Republicans voted with Democrats in 2021 to restore them, but with a new name, “congressionally-directed spending.”

Whereas before the ban, earmarks were often inserted anonymously and veiled in obscure language that could only apply to the favored project, the revised earmarking process includes extensive public disclosure for both the Senate and House.

Shelby and Inhofe received $656.4 million and $510.5 million, respectively, making them the top two earmarkers in Congress. Blunt got $350 million in earmarks, making him number five on the top 10 of congressional earmarkers in 2022, according to Open the Books, an Illinois-based research non-profit that obtains and discloses spending records for all levels of government, and conducts deep-diving analyses.

Another Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, ranked third with $489.6 million as Republicans dominated the top 10. Sixth was Rep. Randy Weber of Texas with $287.5 million, while Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina was seventh with $262.1 million, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana was ninth with $204.7 million and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was 10th with $200 millions.

Hawaii’s two Democratic senators—Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono—shared fourth place in the top 10 with $421.6 million, while the retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) was eighth overall with $212.5 million.

Despite the dominance of Senate GOPers in the top 10 earmarkers in the 2022 spending bill, Democrats in Congress received more overall in earmarks at $9.1 billion than Republicans, who collectively got $6.4 billion. Another $476 million was jointly requested by members of both parties.

Among the 7,506 earmarks were $1 million to build a splash pad in Center Line, Michigan, $2.5 million for landscaping road medians in La Mirada, California, $3.6 million for the second phase of the Michelle Obama Trail in Atlanta, Georgia, $4 million to renovate a Dallas, Texas, theatre, and $7 million for constructing a new National Korean Museum in Los Angeles.

While earmark advocates often defend the practice as a way individual congressmen can ensure needed federal funding for worthwhile infrastructure projects isn’t blocked by anonymous executive branch bureaucrats, Open the Books identified only $1.6 billion in earmarks for roads, bridges, and highway construction and repairs.