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
- Cochran (R-MS): 204 471
- Wicker (R-MS): 143 390
- Landrieu (D-LA): 177 332
- Harkin (D-IA): 177 292
- Vitter (R-LA): 142 249
- Bond (R-MO): 86 248
- Feinstein (D-CA): 153 235
- Inouye (D-HI): 106 225
- Shelby (R-AL): 125 219
- Grassley (R-IA): 125 219
- Murkowski (R-AK): 93 181
- Murray (D-WA): 155 171
- Lincoln (D-AK): 93 181
- Pryor (D-AK): 92 167
- Menendez (D-NJ): 171 160
- Lautenberg (D-NJ): 173 159
- Hutchinson (R-TX): 106 106
- Levin (D-MI): 178 152
- Stabenow (D-MI): 178 152
- 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.
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.