House Passes Earmark-Heavy Spending Bill

Posted on Dec 10, 2009

Flickr / Matti Mattila

On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved a massive spending bill, totaling $447 billion, which includes quite a few earmarks. In fact, 5,224 earmarks made their way into the bill, adding up to about $3.9 billion. This did not please House Republicans, of whom not a single member voted for the measure.  —KA

Los Angeles Times:

Though Democrats say they have cracked down on pork-barrel spending, critics attacked the bill as excessive. “Clearly, the earmark culture has not been swept away,” Brian M. Riedl, a budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, blogged today.

The $447-billion bill, which passed the Democratic-controlled House with no Republican votes and was before the Senate, combines six spending bills for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

The measure brings total earmarks in this year’s spending bills to 7,577 at a cost of about $6 billion, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense. The Pentagon spending bill, the last of the annual appropriations bills, is expected to contain more earmarks than the entire omnibus bill, said Steve Ellis of the taxpayer group.

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