From Pine View Farm

At the Trough 1

Farmers used to mark their livestock by cutting nicking distinctive marks into their ears. Hence the term earmark: something to make sure the right pig ended up slurping at the right trough.

Kos lists who was first in line at the trough amongst our elected representatives incongruously assembled:

                     Earmarks  $ in millions

  1. Cochran (R-MS):     204       471
  2. Wicker (R-MS):      143       390
  3. Landrieu (D-LA):    177       332
  4. Harkin (D-IA):      177       292
  5. Vitter (R-LA):      142       249
  6. Bond (R-MO):         86       248
  7. Feinstein (D-CA):   153       235
  8. Inouye (D-HI):      106       225
  9. Shelby (R-AL):      125       219
  10. Grassley (R-IA):    125       219
  11. Murkowski (R-AK):    93       181
  12. Murray (D-WA):      155       171
  13. Lincoln (D-AK):      93       181
  14. Pryor (D-AK):        92       167
  15. Menendez (D-NJ):    171       160
  16. Lautenberg (D-NJ):  173       159
  17. Hutchinson (R-TX):  106       106
  18. Levin (D-MI):       178       152
  19. Stabenow (D-MI):    178       152
  20. Byrd (D-WV):         76       152

Off the bat, we see that six of the top 10 earmarkers (by dollar amount) are Republicans, including the top two being our good wingnutty friends in Mississippi. We also see that six of the top 10, and 11 of the top 20, come from red states. (And remember, there are far fewer Republicans in the Senate this year.)

’nuff said.

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1 comment

  1. Bill

    March 4, 2009 at 7:14 pm

    Interesting.  I could have sworn I heard the democrat leadership say there were “no earmarks” in the  non-stimulus bill.  It’s just business as usual inside the Beltway.