{"id":1960091,"date":"2023-06-29T09:48:01","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T13:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/retiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-for-their-states\/"},"modified":"2023-06-29T09:50:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T13:50:40","slug":"retiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-for-their-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/retiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-for-their-states\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP Senators retired from Congress with $1.5B in earmarks for their states."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fretiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-for-their-states%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1960091&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Retiring Republican Senators Receive Over $1.5 Billion in Earmarks for State Projects<\/h2>\n<p>Three retiring Republican senators\u2014Roy Blunt of Missouri, Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, and Richard Shelby of Alabama\u2014received more than $1.5 billion in earmarks for projects in their states as part of last year\u2019s spending bill, according to a new analysis by a nonprofit government watchdog.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican trio\u2019s pork barrel projects were among the more than 7,500 others in the bill, worth in excess of $16 billion. Earmarks are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/study-taxpayer-funded-abortion-seekers-are-often-repeat-customers\/\" title=\"Study: Taxpayer-Funded Abortion Seekers Are Often Repeat Customers\">federal tax dollars<\/a> requested by individual senators and representatives to be included in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bernie-sanders-wants-more-spending-as-dems-struggle-to-address-inflation\/\" title=\"Bernie Sanders Wants More Spending As Dems Struggle To Address Inflation\">larger spending bills<\/a> for projects in their home states or districts.<\/p>\n<p>Tea Party majority Republicans in the House banned earmarks in 2011 in the wake of controversy prompted in 2005 by Sen. Tom Coburn\u2019s (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 \u201cDr. No\u201d among Senate colleagues as a result of his opposition to earmarks.<\/p>\n<p>But earmarks returned to Congress when a majority of congressional Republicans voted with Democrats in 2021 to restore them, but with a new name, \u201ccongressionally-directed spending.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4057120\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/10\/19\/sen-inhofe-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Top Earmarkers in Congress<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Richard Shelby (R-AL) &#8211; $656.4 million<\/li>\n<li>Jim Inhofe (R-OK) &#8211; $510.5 million<\/li>\n<li>Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) &#8211; $489.6 million<\/li>\n<li>Roy Blunt (R-MO) &#8211; $350 million<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Whereas before the ban, earmarks were often inserted anonymously and veiled in obscure language that could only apply to the favored project, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/retiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-for-their-states\/\" title=\"GOP Senators retired from Congress with .5B in earmarks for their states.\">revised earmarking process includes extensive public disclosure<\/a> for both the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.appropriations.senate.gov\/fy-2023-congressionally-directed-spending\">Senate<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/appropriations.house.gov\/fiscal-year-2024-member-request-guidance\">House<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/retiring-gop-senators-left-congress-with-1-5-billion-in-earmarks-in-2022-spending-package\/\" title=\"GOP Senators retiring from Congress in 2022 left behind .5 billion in earmarks in the spending package.\">conducts deep-diving analyses<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>Hawaii\u2019s two Democratic senators\u2014Brian Schatz and Mazie Hirono\u2014shared 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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>While earmark advocates often defend the practice as a way individual congressmen can ensure needed federal funding for worthwhile infrastructure projects isn\u2019t blocked by anonymous executive branch bureaucrats, Open the Books identified only $1.6 billion in earmarks for roads, bridges, and highway construction and repairs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4130318\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/11\/30\/Epoch-Times-9A6A1595-1-1200x800-1200x800.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Private Institutions Benefit<\/h3>\n<p>Hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars went to already well-funded private institutions.<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three retiring Republican senators, Roy Blunt, Jim Inhofe, and Richard Shelby, secured over $1.5 billion in earmarks for their states in the previous year&#8217;s spending bill. A nonprofit government watchdog revealed this analysis, highlighting their pork barrel projects among many others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":173,"featured_media":1960092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1960091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/173"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1960091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1960091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1960092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1960091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1960091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1960091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}