U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., has included 101 earmarks totaling $355 million in a series of eight bills before his Committee on Appropriations:
(Click image to enlarge.)Congress has posted a roster of the year's appropriations measures, and offers both bill text and reports that detail earmarks by state and by requesting legislator.
Totals for the first three bills reflect compromises reached by a joint House-Senate conference committee.
Byrd has co-sponsors for some of the earmarks, and he also added his name to several requests by the Bush Administration.
The Charleston Daily Mail focuses on three of the bills, though with somewhat different totals. The Daily Mail also checks in with Citizens Against Government Waste, which has long railed against such pork.
"Despite what might seem an ample amount of pork spending, an analysis from independent watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste shows that the Democratic-controlled Congress has dramatically slashed earmark spending compared to two years ago, when Republicans were at the helm," the article said.
The watchdog group previously identified $2.28 billion worth of pork earmarked for West Virginia from 2000 to 2006, nearly all of it by Byrd. The total for 2006 was $239 million, compared to $398.6 million for 2005.
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