The most costly, corrupt, and inequitable practice in the history of Congress has once again been exposed in the Congressional Pig Book. The 32nd edition of “the book Washington doesn’t want you to read” tracks the rise of earmarks to near-record levels of spending in the third year since members of Congress restored the practice in fiscal 2022.
Citizens Against Government Waste released the first Congressional Pig Book in 1991, based on the seven-point criteria developed in conjunction with the bipartisan Congressional Porkbusters Coalition. The 2024 version exposes 8,222 earmarks, an increase of 11.2% from the 7,396 in fiscal 2023, at a cost of $22.7 billion, 13% less than the $26.1 billion in earmarks in fiscal 2023.
While the lower cost is moving earmark spending in the right direction, the $22.7 billion in fiscal 2024 is the fifth-highest total in the history of the Congressional Pig Book. Since 1991, Citizens Against Government Waste has identified 132,434 earmarks costing $460.3 billion.
The corruption and inequity of earmarks were on display once again in the 2024 Congressional Pig Book. The 90 members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, making up only 17% of Congress, were responsible for 42.2% of the earmarks and 35.2% of the money.
As the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) explained regarding those making the case for earmarks, “The problem with all their arguments is: the more powerful you are, the more likely it is you get the earmark in. Therefore, it is a corrupt system.”
The corruption was further demonstrated by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-NY) use of the “legalized bribery” aspect of the process. In exchange for votes to prevent a government shutdown, Jeffries pushed Republican leaders to agree to increase the amount of money for earmarks allotted to Democrats in the transportation, housing, and urban development appropriations bill.
Nearly all Democrats received an earmark in that bill, and, according to a CNN analysis, most of them were inflated by $616,279 above the amount provided in the committee-passed version of the legislation.
Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Susan Collins (R-ME) claimed the most earmarks in fiscal 2024. Her 231 earmarks cost $575,580,000, which is $109,429,721 or 23.5% more than the legislator in second place, Senate Appropriations Committee member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who received 185 earmarks costing $466,370,279.
Three more senators rounded out the top five: Sen. Angus King (I-ME), Senate Appropriations Committee member Brian Schatz (D-HI), and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). These five legislators, constituting just 0.93% of the 535 members of Congress, together received $2,345,913,685 or 10.3% of the total cost of the fiscal 2024 earmarks, the same percentage the top five claimed in fiscal 2023.
Earmarks also benefited senators far more than representatives, with only three of the top 40 recipients by dollar amount coming from the House. And Democrats took much more advantage of the earmarking opportunity than Republicans, with 99% of the former and 62.4% of the latter receiving earmarks.
States and territories with smaller populations got a disproportionate amount of earmarks, especially if they had members on powerful committees. Alaska ($645.20 per resident) received the most pork per capita (dollars in earmarks relative to population), followed by Maine ($434.24 per resident), Hawaii ($336.35 per resident), the Northern Mariana Islands ($254.36 per resident), and West Virginia ($211.95 per resident). In fiscal 2023, the top five were Alaska, the Northern Mariana Islands, Vermont, Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands.
The 32nd installment of Citizens Against Government Waste’s exposé of pork-barrel spending includes $282,353,000 for two earmarks for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter; $17,500,000 for the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS); $4,000,000 for the Alaska King Crab Enhancement Project by Murkowski; and $190,000 for a shark repellant study at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, by Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL).
Citizens Against Government Waste once again issued “oinkers” for several of the most egregious earmarks. The Broadband Bandits Award went to the 14 members of Congress who received 10 earmarks costing $11,385,000 to fund broadband projects despite the availability of $800 billion for broadband, with 133 federal programs across 15 agencies, so anyone who wants funding without an earmark can get it.
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The You Cannot Be Serious Award went to Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for $1.75 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which held net assets of $5 billion in 2023. With 26 federal agencies funding museums, the Met apparently could not qualify for a single penny of that money, so the senators decided to hand it a check at the taxpayers’ expense.
There is some hope for taxpayers. Legislation to ban earmarks continues to be introduced in Congress. This effort should gain traction once taxpayers have a chance to let their representatives and senators know what they think after absorbing the porky details of the 2024 Congressional Pig Book.
Tom Schatz (@ThomasASchatz) is the president of Citizens Against Government Waste.