Introduction

The 31st edition of the Congressional Pig Book tracks the rise of earmarks to near-record levels of spending in the second year since members of Congress restored the practice. 

After an 11-year moratorium, earmarks were revived for fiscal year (FY) 2022, first in a favorable vote by House Democrats on February 26, 2021, then by House Republicans, who agreed to restore them on March 17, 2021, and then by Senate Democrats, who followed suit on April 26, 2021.  Senate Republicans voted to uphold the moratorium on April 21, 2021, but the agreement was nonbinding, and many of them received earmarks.  These arrangements were maintained for earmarks in FY 2023.

The revived earmarks, despite a futile attempt to cover them up by designating them as “Community Project Funding,” are similar to the old earmarks that were included in the appropriations bills passed by Congress during FYs 2008-2010, which required that the names of the members who received earmarks be listed in each bill.  The rules are as follows:  each member of the House of Representatives is allowed to request up to 15 projects (senators face no such limitation); requests are posted online; a list of projects funded is published when the subcommittee or committee marks up a bill; for-profit entities are not eligible; and members certify that they, their spouse, and their family have no financial interest in the project.

In order to receive funding, there must be “evidence of community support that were compelling factors” in deciding which projects to request.  This limitation is prima facie absurd, since it includes every expenditure from building a weapons system to programs and projects funded by hundreds of agencies and programs that include community, development, economic, or similar words in their title.  It also describes the normal system of requesting money from competitive grant programs.  The projects that would be requested as earmarks were by their very nature not funded because the agencies rejected them based on statutory criteria established by Congress.  As a result, the end product looked awfully similar to the old system used by members of Congress prior to the establishment of the earmark moratorium. 

It is in this climate that Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) releases the 2023 Congressional Pig Book.  This year’s release exposes 7,396 earmarks, an increase of 43.9 percent from the 5,138 in FY 2022, at a cost of $26.1 billion, an increase of 38.1 percent from the $18.9 billion in earmarks in FY 2022.  The cost is $2.9 billion, or 10 percent lower than the record $29 billion in FY  2006.  Since FY 1991, CAGW has identified 124,212 earmarks costing $437.5 billion.

While CAGW exposed earmarks in the appropriations bills every year since the moratorium, the agreement succeeded in reducing the cost and number of the projects.  Members of Congress passed the 12 appropriations bills in nine years during the moratorium, adding on average 192 earmarks costing $9.4 billion.  In the nine years prior to the earmark moratorium, legislators on average added 9,542 earmarks costing $20.9 billion.  Members of Congress have added on average 6,267 earmarks costing $22.5 billion in the two years since repealing the moratorium. 

The $26.1 billion earmarked in FY 2023 is the third highest total since CAGW began tracking earmarks in 1991, behind the $29 billion in FY 2006 and $27.3 billion in FY 2005.  Legislators are now well on their way to breaking the all-time record.

Earmarks continue to provide the most benefit to those with spots on prime congressional committees.  In FY 2023, the 89 members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, making up only 17 percent of Congress, were responsible for 41.4 percent of the earmarks and 29.9 percent of the money.  As the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 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.”

Indeed, the most powerful legislators unduly benefited from the return of earmarks.  For the second year in a row, the since-retired Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) received by far the highest dollar amount of earmarks.  His 18 earmarks cost $666,406,000, which is $125,030,000 (23.1 percent) more than the legislator in second place, the also retired Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), who received 63 earmarks costing $541,376,000.

Three more senators rounded out the top five:  Senate Appropriations Committee member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who received 72 earmarks costing $529,856,915; Senate Appropriations Committee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who received 134 earmarks costing $489,132,000; and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who received 36 earmarks costing $449,315,000.  These five members of Congress, constituting .93 percent of the 535 members of Congress, together received $2,676,085,915, or 10.3 percent of the total cost of the FY 2023 earmarks.

The new system of earmarking benefited senators far more than representatives, as the top 50 earmark recipients by dollar featured only two legislators from the lower chamber.  Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) received 10 earmarks costing $287,537,000, ranking 11th in Congress, and Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) received 11 earmarks costing $176,559,000, ranking 36th in Congress.

Democrats took advantage of the opportunity to get earmarks far more than Republicans.  There were 271 Democrats, or 98.5 percent of the 275 in Congress, who received 7,890 earmarks totaling $14,504,807,625, while 127 Republicans, or 48.7 percent of the 261, received 2,109 earmarks costing $7,114,165,577.  Because multiple legislators often requested the same earmark, the combined individual totals exceed the total number and dollar value of earmarks attributed to members of Congress in the bills.

Like the earmarks prior to the moratorium, states and territories with smaller populations got a disproportionate amount, especially if they had members on powerful committees.  Alaska ($668.59 per resident) received the most pork per capita, calculated as dollars in earmarks relative to population, followed by the Northern Mariana Islands ($567.06 per resident), Vermont ($411.49 per resident), Hawaii ($400.05 per resident), and the U.S. Virgin Islands ($347.69 per resident).  In FY 2022, the top three were Alaska, Vermont, and Hawaii.

While the inclusion of the names of members of Congress is helpful, nearly half of the cost of the earmarks was added without any attribution.  There were 162 such earmarks costing $10.8 billion, or 41.4 percent of the $26.1 billion total.  The Department of Defense (DOD) received by far the most of these earmarks, with 134 costing $10.1 billion.

Members of Congress will argue that their standards differ from the earmark criteria used in the Pig Book, and that these projects do not count as earmarks according to their definition.  However, the difference in the definition of earmarks between CAGW and Congress has existed since the first Pig Book in 1991.

Beyond the high percentage of anonymous earmarks, larger problems with transparency exist.  The FY 2023 earmarks were again contained in omnibus bills containing thousands of pages, which present their own challenges to determine how money is being spent.  Voting on blocks of spending bills bundled together with minimal time for review is a strong indicator of a poorly functioning legislative process.

Moreover, the earmarks were located in disparate sections of the 12 appropriations bills with varying degrees of legibility.  To undertake this analysis, CAGW staff painstakingly created a searchable database, oftentimes entering by hand information that failed to accurately scan because of blurry, barely discernable text in the legislation.  The state of the data released to the public makes a mockery of the clearly searchable database delineated by the earmark guidelines.  And the earmark requests are also not in a single database.  They can only be found on an individual member’s website.

The members of Congress who restored earmarks willfully ignored or forgot why this corrupt, inequitable, and costly practice was first subject to the moratorium.  The movement gained traction due to the tireless work of members of Congress like then-Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.); high-profile boondoggles like the Bridge to Nowhere; and a decade of scandals that resulted in jail terms for Reps. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-Calif.) and Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Legislators often cited the Article I tax and spending power given to Congress as justification for earmarking.  As Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and then-Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), co-leaders of the Article I Project, wrote in 2017 in regard to earmarks, “Congress needs to assert its power of the purse, but not in this manner.”  As practiced in the past, Lee and Hensarling continued, “earmarking was not the innocuous exercise of Congress’ constitutional spending power; it was the tool lobbyists and leadership used to compel members to vote for bills that their constituents – and sometimes their conscience – opposed.”  Bringing back earmarks, they wrote, “would make our job harder, make Congress weaker and make federal power more centralized, less accountable and more corrupt.”

Those sentiments echo President James Monroe’s May 4, 1822 Special Message to Congress regarding its authority to spend money on internal improvements across the country:  “It is, however, my opinion that the power should be confined to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil.”

As noted in a September 7, 2007, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT OIG) report, 7,724, or 99 percent of the 7,760 projects for FY 2006 reviewed by the OIG worth $8 billion at three DOT agencies either failed to be “subject to the agencies’ normal review and planning process or bypassed the states’ normal planning and programming processes.”  At the Federal Aviation Administration, nine of the 10 earmarked air traffic control tower replacement projects were low priority, and their funding caused a three-year delay in planning for higher priority projects.  There were 16 projects out of 65 at the Federal Highway Administration that failed to meet the statutory requirements of the Interstate Maintenance Discretionary Program. 

Reviewing the thousands of earmark requests for FY 2024 by appropriations committee staff will not only bypass the local review and approval process but also usurp the authority Congress provided to federal agencies and their experienced employees, who are charged with deciding how to spend the 99 percent of discretionary spending that is not earmarked.

The 31st installment of CAGW’s exposé of pork-barrel spending includes:  $1,508,300,000 for three earmarks for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), including funding for the acquisition of 18 aircraft beyond the amount requested by the DOD; $30,615,000 for 57 earmarks for the Save America’s Treasures grants program, including $500,000 for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.); $13,250,000 for two earmarks funding presidential libraries; $1,000,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio); and $500,000 for wild horse management at the Nevada Department of Agriculture by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).

The projects in the 2023 Congressional Pig Book Summary symbolize the most blatant examples of pork.  As in previous years, all items in the Congressional Pig Book meet at least one of CAGW’s seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:

• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings; or,
• Serves only a local or special interest.

I.  Agriculture

Members of Congress have long used the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act to feed at the trough, and their appetite grew in FY 2023.  The number of earmarks increased by 37.3 percent, from 241 in FY 2022 to 331 in FY 2023, and the cost went up by 32.3 percent, from $352.3 million in FY 2022 to $466.2 million in FY 2023.

$9,537,427 for eight earmarks funding broadband expansion by 10 legislators, including:  $3,750,000 for Cumberland and Salem counties in New Jersey by Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.); $1,350,000 for Gustine, California by Senate Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.); $1,000,000 for Washington County, New York by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.); and $960,112 for the Co-Mo Connect project in Missouri by Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.).

There is absolutely no reason to earmark a penny of broadband funding.  There is so much money and so many programs across the federal government for broadband deployment that anyone who wants funding can get it.  In fact, Co-Mo Connect received $21,968,964 for 8,356 locations from the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Connect America Fund in 2019.  Missouri has allocated $265,000,000 in America Rescue Plan Act funds for broadband infrastructure across the state, second only to water infrastructure.  The earmark represents a miniscule .36 percent of that amount, proving the point that there is more than enough broadband funding to negate the need for any such earmarks.

In his testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology on March 31, 2022, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr stated that, “$800 billion has been appropriated by Congress or budgeted by agencies for infrastructure programs over the past two years that could be used on efforts to bridge the digital divide.”  He also estimated that one-tenth of that amount, or $80 billion, would be sufficient to connect all unserved areas of the country.

More than half of the $800 billion came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which gave $350 billion to state and local governments for infrastructure, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which contained $65 billion solely for broadband deployment and affordability programs.  The regulations for the use of the ARPA and IIJA funds differ, and making matters worse, a May 31, 2022, Government Accountability Office (GAO) report identified at least 133 broadband programs spread across 15 federal agencies.  The report understandably called for improved alignment “to help address fragmentation and overlap.”  The 10 congressional broadband bandits are exacerbating this disarray and wasteful spending.

$4,117,000 for Wheat, Peanut, and Other Field Crops Research Unit facility improvements at the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service by then-Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).

$4,000,000 for Sugarcane Research Unit improvements at the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.).

$1,000,000 for infrastructure improvements at the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory in Athens, Georgia by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.).

$500,000 for wild horse management at the Nevada Department of Agriculture by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).

$117,000 for rehabilitation of a wastewater treatment plant at the Dale Bumpers National Rice Research Center in Stuttgart, Arkansas by Senate Appropriations Committee member John Boozman (R-Ark.).

II. Commerce, Justice, and Science

The FY 2023 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act contained 617 earmarks, a 24.4 percent increase from the 496 earmarks in FY 2022.  The cost of the earmarks climbed by 66.7 percent, from $566.6 million in FY 2022 to $944.4 million in FY 2023.

$229,551,000 for 268 earmarks funding the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) program, a 24.3 percent increase from the $184.7 million contained in the FY 2022 CJS bill.  The FY 2023 JAG earmarks represent 24.3 of the $944.4 million included in the FY 2023 CJS bill.

The JAG program has been around since 1988 in one form or another.  In 2005, Congress merged several DOJ grant programs under the JAG umbrella.  Unfortunately, the program gives away money with too much flexibility and no effective targeting strategy, along with weak oversight and few consequences for mismanagement of the funds. 

An October 15, 2010 GAO report found that JAGs “lack key attributes of successful performance assessment systems that GAO has previously identified, such as clarity, reliability, a linkage to strategic or programmatic goals, and objectivity and measurability of targets.”

The George W. Bush administration’s ExpectMore.gov described the Byrne grants as “a variety of potential local law enforcement activities rather than a clearly defined, specific or existing problem, interest, or need. … With program funds eligible to be used for multiple purposes, the Department of Justice cannot target the funds to high priority uses.  There are no meaningful goals for the program.  Performance measures are still under development.  Grantees are not required to report on performance.  As a result, it is difficult to determine what the program is accomplishing.”

Since FY 2001, members of Congress have added 2,488 earmarks for the JAG program costing $1.4 billion.

$177,880,000 for 196 earmarks for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, a 59.2 percent increase from the $111.7 million earmarked in FY 2022, and 18.8 percent of the total amount contained in the FY 2023 CJS bill.

The COPS program provides grants, training, and technical assistance to local law enforcement.  It was targeted for a $96 million reduction in then-President Trump’s FY 2019 Major Savings and Reforms, which stated that the program is “not well targeted to achieve public safety outcomes.”  The Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) budgets from FYs 2018 through 2020 called for the elimination of funding for COPS, and CAGW’s Prime Cuts has also called for terminating the program.

In FY 2008, COPS received 680 earmarks requested by hundreds of members of Congress costing $245.2 million.  In that same year, the Office of Management and Budget’s Program Assessment Rating Tool gave the COPS program a “results not demonstrated” rating, which “indicates that a program has not been able to develop acceptable performance goals or collect data to determine whether it is performing,” noting that the COPS program’s “long-term goals have no timelines or specific targets.”

This subpar characterization of the program corresponded with a significant decline in earmarks with legislators abstaining from adding projects between FYs 2010 and 2017.  However, earmarks for COPS have returned without any evidence that the problems identified in 2008 have been addressed.  Since FY 1998, legislators have added 3,195 earmarks for COPS, costing taxpayers $3.2 billion.

$111,465,000 for 73 earmarks funding operations, research, and facilities at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a 32.1 percent increase from the $84.4 million earmarked in FY 2022. 

Funded projects include:  $13,167,000 for two earmarks in Florida by House Appropriations Committee member Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.); $6,000,000 for the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.); $5,000,000 for a salmon reintroduction project in Washington by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-Wash.); and $5,000,000 for Louisiana State University by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.).

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography had total revenue of $243 million in FY 2020/2021, including $126.6 million from the federal government and $9.6 million in private giving.  It also received $6 million from the Scripps family for the naming of a new facility.  There is no reason the institution needs a $6 million earmark.  Since FY 2001, members of Congress have added 286 earmarks for NOAA, costing $2 billion.

$13,531,000 for 12 earmarks supporting fishing industries, including:  $5,575,000 for four earmarks for Alaska-based projects by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska); $2,500,000 for the Gulf Shellfish Institute in Palmetto, Florida by Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.); and $185,000 for the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association by Senate CJS Appropriations Subcommittee member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

The Gulf Shellfish Institute reported $172,108 in total revenue in FY 2020, meaning the $2,500,000 earmarked in FY 2023 is 1,352.8 percent greater than its income.

According to NOAA, the U.S. fishing industry produced $253 billion in commercial and recreational sales in 2020.  It can go fish and get by without the support of earmarks.

$3,050,000 for two earmarks funding aquariums:  $2,400,000 for modernization and educational programming at the New England Aquarium Corporation in Boston, Massachusetts by

Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.); and $650,000 for a career development center at the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut by Senate Appropriations Committee member Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

In FY 2022, Sens. Markey and Warren also added a $1 million earmark for the New England Aquarium, and Sens. Murphy and Blumenthal earmarked $569,000 for the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk, Connecticut.  These senators are swimming in earmarks for aquariums in their state.

Instead of forcing taxpayers to finance these projects, the aquariums could increase admission fees, raise more money from their many individual and corporate donors, or fund the projects with, respectively, less than four percent and one percent of their substantial net assets.  The New England Aquarium’s 2021 annual report showed net assets of $66.5 million, an increase of $21.8 million, or 48.8 percent, over the $44.7 million in assets in 2020.  The 2021 auditor’s report for the Sea Research Foundation, the nonprofit entity that owns the for-profit Mystic Aquarium, showed total net assets of $40.5 million in 2021, an increase of $15.1 million, or 59.4 percent, over the $25.4 million in total net assets in 2020.

III. Defense

The DOD again received the most funding via earmarks, which has occurred each year since FY 1994.  Earmarks increased by 4.9 percent from 143 in FY 2022 to 150 in FY 2023, and their cost went up by 27.5 percent from $8 billion in FY 2022 to $10.2 billion in FY 2023.  The cost constitutes 39.1 percent of the $26.1 billion in earmarks in all 12 appropriations bills for FY 2023.

The FY 2023 DOD bill contained by far the most anonymous earmarks.  The 134 anonymous earmarks for the Pentagon equal 82.7 percent of the 162 anonymous earmarks in the Pig Book.  The $10.1 billion added anonymously equates to 99 percent of the total cost of earmarks in the DOD bill.

$2,121,460,000 for 56 anonymous earmarks for health and disease research under the Defense Health Program (DHP), which is a 6.1 percent increase in cost from the 44 earmarks worth $2 billion in FY 2022, and the most ever earmarked for the program.  The amount earmarked in FY 2023 for the DHP represents 21 percent of the total of $10.1 billion in DOD earmarks.

A March 14, 2012, Washington Post article stated that then-DOD Comptroller Robert Hale proposed decreasing the Pentagon health budget in part by eliminating “one-time congressional adds,” which he said totaled $603.6 million in FY 2012 for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

The late Sen. Tom Coburn’s (R-Okla.) November 2012 “The Department of Everything” report pointed out that the DOD disease earmarks mean that “fewer resources are available for DOD to address those specific health challenges facing members of the armed forces for which no other agencies are focused.”  According to the report, in 2010 the Pentagon withheld more than $45 million for overhead related to earmarks, which means those funds were unavailable for national security needs or medical research specifically affecting those serving in the military.

On June 17, 2015, then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) suggested that funding for medical research should only be included in the DOD bill if the secretary of defense determined it was directly related to the military.  He said that “over the past two decades, lawmakers have appropriated nearly $7.3 billion for medical research that was ‘totally unrelated’ to the military.”  In a response that explains why legislators continue to believe that they have the knowledge, privilege, and right to earmark billions of dollars for the DHP, Senate appropriator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) claimed that none of the secretaries of defense that he had known, despite being “talented individuals,” were qualified to decide whether any of this research is related to the military.

Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 912 earmarks for the DHP, costing taxpayers $20.9 billion.

$1,508,300,000 for three earmarks for the F-35 JSF, the fifth-most ever earmarked for the program.  The bulk of the FY 2023 earmarks fund the acquisition of 18 aircraft beyond the amount requested by the DOD, including 11 for the Air Force and seven for the Navy.

A small ocean of ink has been spilled cataloging the many troubles of the JSF.  It has been under continuous development since the contract was awarded in 2001 and has faced innumerable delays and cost overruns.  Total acquisition costs now exceed $428 billion, nearly double the initial estimate of $233 billion, with projected lifetime operations and maintenance costs of $1.727 trillion.

On April 26, 2016, then-Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the JSF program “both a scandal and a tragedy with respect to cost, schedule, and performance.”  In February 2014, then-Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Frank Kendall referred to the purchase of the F-35 as “acquisition malpractice,” a description that has yet to be improved upon.

The JSF has been plagued by a staggering array of persistent issues, many of which were highlighted in the FY 2019 DOD Operational Test and Evaluation Annual Report, which revealed 873 unresolved deficiencies including 13 Category 1 items, involving the most serious flaws that could endanger crew and aircraft.  While this is an overall reduction from the 917 unresolved deficiencies and 15 Category 1 items found in September 2018, the report stated that “although the program is working to fix deficiencies, new discoveries are still being made, resulting in only a minor decrease in the overall number of deficiencies.”

Cost overruns resulting from the ongoing problems have plagued the F-35.  The first comprehensive cost review of the program since 2012 found a funding gap of $10 billion over the next five years.  On September 11, 2020, Bloomberg reported on an internal DOD review of the JSF program labeled “For Official Use Only.”  Dated June 17, 2020, the report estimated that $88 billion for research and development, procurement, and operations and maintenance would be needed over the next five fiscal years.  The DOD has officially called for $78 billion for these purposes.

According to the DOD report, much uncertainty exists regarding the final cost of the JSF because the aircraft has only logged about 2 percent of the total flight hours it will accrue over its lifecycle.  In addition, the DOD’s goal to reduce the F-35’s cost per hour of flight by $10,000 to $25,000 over the next five years “is likely to prove unachievable” because of “a lack of defined actions” to cut costs.

Many of the problems with the F-35 program can be traced to the decision to develop and procure the aircraft simultaneously.  Whenever problems have been identified, contractors needed to go back and make changes to planes that were already assembled, adding to overall costs.  Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on July 24, 2015, then-Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James stated, “The biggest lesson I have learned from the F-35 is never again should we be flying an aircraft while we’re building it.”

The high cost, delays, and underperformance of the JSF has also created a readiness gap, which has forced the Air Force to purchase older aircraft as a stopgap.  The average Air Force fighter is approximately 28 years old.  The service’s fleet of F-16s, one of the aircraft meant to be replaced by the F-35, is on average more than 30 years old.

Unsurprisingly, the Air Force’s readiness rates have plummeted in recent years.  Aware of the problem, former DOD Secretary Jim Mattis released a memo in September 2018 directing the Air Force and Navy to increase mission-capable rates of four aircraft (including three Air Force platforms) to at least 80 percent by the close of 2019.  The initiative failed and was quickly abandoned by the DOD.  The Air Force’s rates have languished in the low 70s in the last four years, including 71.5 percent in 2021.

Unbelievably, the F-35A, the Air Force’s version of the JSF, has sustained an even lower readiness rate than older service platforms.  In 2021, 68.8 percent of F-35As were mission-capable on average, down from 76.1 percent in 2020, but still better than the 61.6 readiness rate in 2019.

Of course, the program’s many problems have not stopped the Pentagon from asking for funding, and members of Congress from supplying it, oftentimes exceeding the request from the DOD.  This trend continued in FY 2023, when legislators added $1.5 billion to fund the acquisition of 18 JSFs beyond the amount requested by the Pentagon.  Upon completion of the development phase, additional funding will be needed to retrofit the JSFs purchased via earmarks, adding to overall program costs. 

The wide distribution of F-35 supply lines across the country is no accident.  According to a map showing the local economic impact of the JSF on Lockheed Martin’s website, the only states that do not have at least one supplier for the aircraft are Hawaii and North Dakota.  This gives all but two representatives and four senators more than enough incentive to keep greasing the wheels.

The deficiencies that have plagued the DOD in recent years have been identified ad nauseum.  The Pentagon’s track record in addressing its financial shortcomings and procurement failures makes it evident that these problems will continue until members of Congress hold the DOD to a much higher standard of effectiveness and efficiency.  Since FY 2001, legislators have added 37 earmarks for the JSF program, costing $12.1 billion.

$120,000,000 for two earmarks for the National Guard Counter-Drug Program, a 2.4 percent decrease from the $117.2 million provided in FY 2022.  Between FYs 2008-2010, the earmarks went to individual states and congressional districts, but since then the program, which allows for the use of military personnel in domestic drug enforcement operations, has been funded in one bundle as a workaround to the earmark moratorium.  Despite the transparency requirements for earmarks, there is still no information about where these funds are going.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, with a budget of $2.6 billion, is already responsible for these activities.  Since FY 2001, there have been 80 earmarks costing taxpayers $1.3 billion for the National Guard Counter-Drug Program.  Members of Congress who have inserted earmarks for this program in the past include Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House appropriator Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), the late former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and the late Sens. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). 

$50,000,000 for the Starbase Youth Program, which teaches science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to at-risk youth in multiple locations at or near military bases around the country.  The amount supplied in FY 2023 is a 19 percent increase from the $42 million earmarked in FY 2022, and the largest ever earmark for Starbase.

Since FY 2001, members of Congress have added 15 earmarks costing taxpayers $322.1 million for Starbase, including an earmark worth $1.9 million in FY 2010 by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and then-Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).  But, like the National Guard Counter-Drug Program, there is no information about which members of Congress will be receiving the money for the Starbase earmarks.

An April 2018 GAO annual report on program duplication, overlap, and fragmentation found that $2.9 billion was spent in FY 2016 across 13 agencies for 163 STEM programs.  Former President Obama proposed the consolidation or elimination of 31 STEM programs in FY 2015, and a further 20 STEM programs in FY 2016.  Former President Trump’s FY 2021 Major Savings and Reforms recommended eliminating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Office of STEM Engagement, saving $120 million.

$5,000,000 for modernization of three Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).  Dubbed by some inside the Navy as the Little Crappy Ship, the LCS has been a disaster since its inception, with problems that include a vaguely defined mission, a lack of firepower and survivability, and design flaws causing corrosion.

The latest setback surfaced in May 2022, when an internal Navy report revealed that half of the ships have been impacted by

structural defects leading to hull cracks.  To mitigate the damage, the LCS, whose purpose is to perform high-speed patrols, will be limited to lower speeds, especially in rough waters.

Problems with the LCS crop up annually.  On January 19, 2021, when the DOD announced that it had halted deliveries of the Freedom-class LCS because of a transmission design flaw, a Defense News article cited a defect in the ship’s combining gear, “a complex transmission that transmits power generated by the ship’s engines to its waterjet propulsion system.”  The Navy believes that the contractor, Lockheed Martin, is responsible for paying for repairs, which will likely take months for each ship.

Freedom-class LCS transmission issues are nothing new.  In 2015, the maiden voyage of the LCS Milwaukee was cut short when the transmission broke down and the vessel required a tow to reach port.

The many and varied problems in the LCS program strongly indicate that it may be time to pull the plug.  Such issues have caused lengthy delays.  A June 2018 GAO report noted that “deliveries of almost all LCS under contract have been delayed by several months, and, in some cases, a year or longer.” 

The program has become so troubled that the Pentagon took active measures to undermine the bad press.  According to a March 2017 GAO report, the DOD Office of Prepublication and Security Review, which is charged with reviewing information to be released to the public, blocked critical information regarding cost growth in the LCS program.

As is so often the case with deeply flawed DOD programs, the justification for additional LCS funding can be boiled down to a desire to protect jobs.  In a March 20, 2018, HASC hearing, then-HASC member Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.), whose former district hosts the Austal USA shipyard that builds one of the two versions of the LCS, reproached then-Navy Secretary Richard Spencer for requesting only one LCS in FY 2019.  Rep. Byrne stated in the hearing, “Unfortunately, your acquisition plan for small surface combatants fails to provide for an enduring industrial base.  In fact, it will erode the industrial base for those ships,” and reducing the program to one annual ship will result in “thousands of shipyard workers” being laid off. 

Functioning as a jobs program remains the sole possible argument for the continued existence of the LCS.  Since FY 2003, at least eight legislators have added 30 LCS earmarks costing $2.2 billion.

IV. Energy and Water

Legislators once again flooded the Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act with pork.  While the number of earmarks increased by 30.9 percent, from 272 in FY 2022 to 356 in FY 2023, the cost declined by 9.5 percent, from $2.1 billion in FY 2022 to $1.9 billion in FY 2023. 

$1,019,509,000 for 175 earmarks for the Army Corps of Engineers, a 27.2 percent decrease in cost from the $1.4 billion in FY 2022.  Former President Trump’s FY 2018 Major Savings and Reforms recommended reducing the Corps of Engineers’ budget by $976 million.  The FY 2021 version of his Major Savings and Reforms proposed reforming Army Corps of Engineers Inland Waterways Trust Fund financing by establishing an annual fee paid by commercial navigation users, saving $180 million annually.  The report also recommended divesting the federal government of the Washington Aqueduct, which services Washington, D.C., and several Virginia suburbs, saving $118 million over five years.

The Army Corps of Engineers earmarks in FY 2023 contained several big-ticket items, including:  $258,062,000 for two earmarks (the largest two projects in the bill, and 13.6 percent of the total earmarked) funding projects in Texas by Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas); $40,000,000 for a project restoring South Florida’s ecosystem by Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.); $32,000,000 for a project focusing on Barnegat and Little Egg inlets in New Jersey by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.); and $31,000,000 for the Morganza to the Gulf Hurricane Protection System by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.).

Legislators have long treated the Army Corps of Engineers as a prime repository of pork, and it is among the most heavily earmarked areas of the federal budget.  Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 7,349 earmarks for the Corps, costing taxpayers $19.4 billion.  The earmarks in the FY 2023 bill and all other Energy and Water appropriations bills with earmarks since 2014 contravene the provisions of the Water Resources Development Act of 2014, which specifically excluded earmarks for any water projects, including the Army Corps of Engineers.

$60,900,000 for two earmarks to combat underwater pests, including $38 million for the aquatic plant control program, the largest amount ever earmarked for this program and 26.7 percent more than the $30 million earmarked in FY 2022, the second largest ever earmark.

Since FY 1994, there have been 29 earmarks worth a total of $187.1 million for aquatic plant control projects, meaning the amount provided in FY 2023 represents 20.3 percent of the total over the past 29 years.  Legislators who have requested earmarks in the past for the aquatic plant control program include Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who requested three, and one each by then-Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).

Legislators also included $22,900,000 for aquatic nuisance control research, 11.2 percent more than the $20.6 million earmarked in FY 2022, and the largest ever earmark for this purpose.  Since FY 1992, members of Congress have added 12 earmarks for aquatic nuisance research, costing $83.9 million. 

There is no indication as to which member of Congress will receive the FY 2023 funding to wage underwater warfare.

$12,734,000 for two earmarks funding fish passages and fish screens, including $11 million added anonymously and $1,724,000 for the Sacramento River fish screen program in California by Senate Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.).

The anonymous earmark is a 57.1 percent increase from the $7 million added without attribution in FY 2022, and the third most ever earmarked.  Since FY 2000, members of Congress have added 24 earmarks costing $94 million for fish passage and fish screens.  Legislators responsible for adding earmarks in the past for this purpose include Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and former Reps. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) and Wally Herger (R-Calif.).

$4,000,000 for oyster recovery in the Chesapeake Bay by Senate appropriator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), the largest ever earmark for this type of project.  Between FYs 2008 and 2010, 21 legislators from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia added three earmarks that each cost $6 million. 

Since FY 1995, members of Congress have added 18 earmarks costing $29.7 million for oyster recovery projects across the country.

V. Financial Services

Similar to the other 11 appropriations bills, the number of earmarks in the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act increased, in this case by 69.7 percent, from 145 in FY 2022 to 246 in FY 2023, the second-highest percent increase of any bill.  The cost of the projects increased by 32.8 percent, from $173.3 million in FY 2022 to $230.2 million in FY 2023.

$179,709,484 for 207 earmarks paying for salaries and expenses at the Small Business Administration (SBA), a 116.5 percent increase over the $83 million earmarked in FY 2022, and the most ever earmarked for the program.  

Since FY 1995 members of Congress have added 1,014 earmarks for the SBA, costing $844.8 million.

$13,250,000 for two earmarks funding presidential libraries:  $7,250,000 for the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, Georgia by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.); and $6,000,000 for the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University in Starkville by Senate appropriator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.).

Sen. Hyde-Smith also added a $20 million earmark for the Grant library in FY 2022, which opened in November 2017 at a cost of $10 million, and was paid for by Mississippi taxpayers.  In two years, Sen. Hyde-Smith has added 160 percent to the original cost of the library via earmarks.  This makes about as much sense as hosting the victorious Union general’s library in the Deep South. 

Since FY 2003, legislators have added 18 earmarks costing $110.9 million for 11 presidential libraries. 

$10,482,000 for eight earmarks funding drug control programs at the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), including three earmarks costing $6.5 million for programs in Mississippi by Senate appropriator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.), $2 million for the West Virginia ONDCP by Senate Financial Services Appropriations Subcommittee member Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), and $1,660,000 for a program in West Virginia by Senate appropriator Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

Past Members of Congress who have provided earmarks for the ONDCP include Senate Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), House appropriator Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), and Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.).  Since FY 1996, members of Congress have added 30 earmarks for the ONDCP, costing $669.8 million. 

President Richard Nixon kicked off the War on Drugs on June 18, 1971, declaring drug abuse to be “public enemy number one.”  Since then, the U.S. has spent more than $1 trillion on drug interdiction policies, with little to show for it.  In fact, the problem has grown exponentially, especially with the rise of opioids.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, drug overdose deaths have increased fivefold in the past two decades, including 107,000 in the 12-month period ending in January 2022.

Then-ONDCP Director Richard Kerlikowske acknowledged the failure of the War on Drugs in May 2010, stating, “In the grand scheme, it has not been successful. … Forty years later, the concern about drugs and drug problems is, if anything, magnified, intensified.” 

In addition to interdiction, ONDCP has been responsible for ad campaigns, including the Reagan administration’s “Just Say No” campaign, the Bush administration’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign targeting teenage marijuana use, and similar campaigns initiated by the Trump administration targeting opioid abuse.  Such ad campaigns are doomed to failure.  A December 2008 assessment found that the ONDCP’s anti-marijuana campaign may have had the opposite effect, stating, “more ad exposure predicted less intention to avoid marijuana use … and weaker antidrug social norms.”  A March 2015 report on 19 studies examining anti-drug media campaigns found that, while four campaigns provided some benefits, eight did not affect drug use or intended drug use, and two had the opposite result.

Piling earmarks on top of the more than $1 trillion spent is not the way to win the war on drugs.

VI. Homeland Security

The number of earmarks in the FY 2023 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations Act increased by 35.2 percent, from 125 in FY 2022 to 169 in FY 2023.  The cost of the projects dropped by 5.5 percent, from $353.6 million in FY 2022 to $334.1 million in FY 2023.

$233,043,782 for 100 earmarks funding the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Pre-Disaster Mitigation Fund (NPMF), the largest ever earmarked for this purpose, and 51.4 percent more than the $153.9 million earmarked in FY 2022.

The earmarks include $2,327,734 for Mayfield, Pennsylvania (population 1,756) by House appropriator Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.); $562,500 for Burgin, Kentucky (population 995) by Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.); and $446,000 for Lost Creek, West Virginia (population 357) by Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee member Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

Former President Trump’s FY 2020 Major Savings and Reforms recommended eliminating funding for the NPMF, stating that it is duplicative of other federal programs, and should be the responsibility of state and local governments.  Former President Obama’s FY 2017 Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings recommended reducing the NPMF by $46 million.

Since FY 2008, there have been 377 NPMF earmarks costing taxpayers $1 billion.

$86,140,285 for 68 earmarks funding emergency operation centers through FEMA, the most ever earmarked for this purpose.  The amount funded in FY 2023 represents a 75.8 percent increase over the $49 million earmarked in FY 2022, the second-largest amount ever earmarked for emergency operations centers.

The FY 2022 earmarks include $828,000 for Monte Vista, Colorado (population 4,194) by Sens. Michael Bennet (D-Col.) and John Hickenlooper (D-Col.); and $708,000 for Old Lyme, Connecticut (population 7,366) by Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).

Each of former President Obama’s budgets from FYs 2010 through 2013 slashed funding for FEMA’s emergency operation centers grant program.  The FY 2012 budget stated that the program, “is largely comprised of congressionally-directed earmarks and award allocations that are not based on risk assessments.”

Since FY 2009, members of Congress have added 235 earmarks costing $202.8 million for this purpose.

VII. Interior

The number of earmarks in the FY 2023 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act grew by 40.8 percent, from 611 in FY 2022 to 860 in FY 2023.  Earmarks in FY 2023 cost $1.7 billion, a 70 percent increase from the $1 billion in FY 2022.

$30,615,000 for 57 earmarks for the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) grants program, a 200.1 percent increase from the $10.2 million earmarked in FY 2022, and the most ever earmarked.  Intended to help preserve historic locations across the country, members of Congress have added 350 SAT earmarks costing taxpayers $163.2 million since FY 2006.

The FY 2023 earmarks include $500,000 for the Birthplace of Country Music Preservation Project funding a museum of the same name in Bristol, Virginia by Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.).  This museum was awarded $1,050,000 by the Virginia Tobacco Area Revitalization Commission, funded by the Virginia state government, and the earmark adds nearly 50 percent to the amount provided.  The project is of local interest and should be funded by local and state governments.

Then-Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) got a $500,000 earmark for the preservation of the historic Farm Barn at Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vermont.  Shelburne Farms reported total assets of $63.5 million in FY 2021, meaning it can do without the $500,000 from taxpayers across the country.  And given its substantial fund balance, it is not clear why it was chosen out of the nearly 3,000 barns and agricultural buildings that have been identified in the state, according to the Vermont Barn Census, or as many as 10,000 such historic buildings that have been cited by other studies. 

The earmarks also include $250,000 for the restoration of the Driver Opera House in Darlington, Wisconsin by House appropriator Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.).  The Driver Opera House boasted total assets of $2.3 million in 2020.  It should be able to raise the curtains without the assistance of federal taxpayers.  While members of Congress have added 35 earmarks for opera houses across the country since FY 1999, costing $9.8 million, this is the first such earmark since FY 2010.

SAT earmarks contributed to the downfall of former House Appropriations Committee member Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.).  In FY 2010, he added $150,000 for restoration of the Cottrill Opera House through the Vandalia Heritage Foundation, which was operated by a former aide, Laura Kurtz Kuhn.  This was one of several earmarks that led to Rep. Mollohan being accused of potential ethics violations, a key issue in his primary election loss in May 2010, and likely a reason why there have not been any opera house earmarks for the past 13 years.

Former President Obama called for the elimination of the SAT program in the FY 2011 version of Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings, to allow the National Park Service (NPS) to “focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission,” since the grants have “not demonstrated how they contribute to nationwide historic preservation goals.”

$6,951,000 for the Heritage Partnership Program (HPP), which supports the 49 National Heritage Areas (NHAs) created by Congress.  The FY 2023 earmark is a 41.8 percent increase over the $4.9 million provided in FY 2022.  Operated through the NPS, the HPP has received 56 earmarks costing $153.4 million since FY 2001, including funding for projects like park improvements, sports complexes, health centers, water quality monitoring, bike paths, sustainable agriculture, and agricultural tourism, but there is no transparency regarding which members of Congress will be receiving the FY 2023 funds.

Each of former President Obama’s budgets from FYs 2011 through 2017 slashed funding for NHAs.  The FY 2017 version of Cuts, Consolidations, and Savings recommended trimming the budget by 55 percent, from $20 million to $9 million.  The last three of former President Trump’s Major Savings and Reforms proposed eliminating the HPP entirely, saving $22 million.  The 2021 report noted there is no “systematic process for designating Heritage Partnership Areas or determining their effectiveness,” and made the same argument that former President Obama made in his FY 2011 budget that funding for the HPP diverted resources from core NPS responsibilities. 

Unfortunately, members of Congress have continuously ignored these proposed budget reductions, earmarking funding for the HPP in 10 of the last 12 years.

$2,831,000 for eight earmarks funding museums, including two earmarks costing $900,000 for the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum in Hawaii, by Senate appropriator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii); $500,000 for the Bethlehem Museum in Pennsylvania by Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.); $500,000 for the Metlar-Bodine House Museum in Piscataway, New Jersey by Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.); $500,000 for the Nanticoke Indian Museum in Millsboro, Delaware by Senate appropriator Christopher Coons (D-Del.) and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.); $250,000 for the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii by House appropriator Ed Case (D-Hawaii); $111,000 for the Mystic Seaport Museum in Stonington, Connecticut by Senate Appropriations Committee member Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); and $70,000 for the Saint Albans Museum in Saint Albans, Vermont by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

While all of these museums should have applied for grants like the hundreds of others across the country who tried to get federal funding on their merits rather than political favoritism, or from state, local, or private sources, three of the earmarks are especially egregious.  The Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum had net assets of $38.1 million in 2021, the Mystic Seaport Museum had a net operating gain of $2.7 million and an endowment of $69.5 million in 2021, and the Bishop Museum had a fund balance of $60.7 million according to its 2020 tax return.  Since FY 1991, members of Congress have added 1,419 earmarks for museums costing $1.6 billion.

$1,270,000 for three earmarks funding theaters, including $750,000 for the Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, West Virginia by Senate appropriator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.); $500,000 for the Grand Theater in Steubenville, Ohio by Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio); and $20,000 for the Liberty Theater in Murphysboro, Illinois by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).  Like the museums that received earmarks, these theaters should have applied for competitive grants and received the funds solely on their merits.

Since FY 1991, legislators have added 355 earmarks for theaters costing $100.1 million.

VIII. Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

The number of earmarks in the FY 2023 Labor/HHS bill increased by 38.6 percent, from 1,540 in FY 2022 to 2,134 in FY 2023.  The cost of the projects increased by 35 percent, from $2 billion in FY 2022 to $2.7 billion in FY 2023.

$185,000,000 for 32 projects by former Senate appropriator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), which is 6.9 percent of the total cost of the FY 2023 Labor/HHS earmarks.  On his way into retirement, Sen. Blunt received 63 earmarks costing $404.4 million in FY 2023, the ninth-most in Congress based on cost.

$12,891,800 for 13 projects funding museums, including $2,000,000, or 15.5 percent of the cost of the museum earmarks, for the Universal Hip Hop Museum in New York City by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); and $1,000,000 for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio).

Set to open in 2024, the Universal Hip Hop Museum received $4.5 million from the city of New York in August 2022.  The Hip Hop Museum earmark could be avoided by getting just 51 cents from each of New York City’s 8.8 million residents or from private contributors.  With more than 500,000 visitors annually, federal taxpayers could have avoided picking up the tab if the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had added $2 to each ticket.

Since FY 2002, legislators have added five earmarks for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame costing $2.1 million.

IX. Military Construction

The number of earmarks in the FY 2023 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act increased by 97.2 percent, from 72 in FY 2022 to 142 in FY 2023, the highest percent increase of any bill.  The cost went up by 61.5 percent, from $1.3 billion in FY 2022 to $2.1 billion in FY 2023.

$373,250,000 for five earmarks, or 17.8 percent of the cost of the earmarks in the bill, by Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), including $87.9 million for a bachelor enlisted quarters at Marine Corps Base, Hawaii.  In addition to these earmarks added jointly, Sen. Hirono got a $20 million earmark for a waterfront production facility at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, and Sen. Schatz secured a $9 million earmark for “unspecified minor construction” at a firehouse station facility at Schofield Barracks.  In total, Sens. Hirono and Schatz received $402,250,000, or 19.2 percent of the total earmarked in the Military Construction bill.

$356,300,000 for six earmarks, or 17 percent of the total cost of earmarks in the bill, by former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.).  Sen. Inhofe was a prolific porker throughout his 36 years in the House and Senate, and received 63 earmarks costing $541.4 million in FY 2023, good for the second most in Congress.

$176,659,000 for 11 earmarks by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), including $97 million for a consolidated communications facility at Patrick Space Force Base and five earmarks costing $11.6 million funding hangers, storage, and inspection facilities for the F-35.

$99,000,000 for a physical fitness center annex at Fort Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska by Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee member Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).  Fairbanks has more than 20 gyms and fitness centers that could be used by servicemembers instead of forcing taxpayers across the country to pay for this earmark.

X. State and Foreign Operations

After skipping a year, earmarks returned in the FY 2023 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.  The number of earmarks declined by 71.4 percent from seven in FY 2021 to two in FY 2023, and the cost dropped by 96.2 percent, from $557.7 million in FY 2021 to $21 million in FY 2023.

$11,953,000 for international fisheries commissions (IFCs), a 57.6 percent decrease from the $28.2 million earmarked in FY 2021.  Made up of various marine conservation organizations and commissions, IFCs have received 12 earmarks totaling $116.4 million since FY 1997. 

Congress should let taxpayers off the hook and tell the IFCs to chum the water for money elsewhere.

$9,000,000 for the Inter-American Foundation (IAF), a 73.7 percent decline from the $34.2 million earmarked in FY 2021.

The IAF promotes and invests in grassroots projects in the Caribbean and Latin America.  President Obama proposed a reduction in funding for the IAF in each of his budgets, including a cut of 1.3 percent, from $22.5 million to $22.2 million in FY 2017, and recommended that the IAF continue to seek partnerships with corporate foundations to leverage additional funding.  Since FY 2001, the IAF has received nine earmarks totaling $139.3 million.

XI. Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development

The FY 2023 Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Act contained 2,389 earmarks, a 60 percent increase from the 1,493 in FY 2022.  The cost of earmarks increased by 80.6 percent, from $3.1 billion in FY 2022 to $5.6 billion in FY 2022.

The FY 2023 THUD bill included the most earmarks of the 12 appropriations bills at the second-highest cost.

$389,000,000 for five earmarks by former Senate Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.):  $200,000,000 for a terminal expansion at the Alabama Port Authority; $100,000,000 for the Woolsey Finnell Bridge; $50,000,000 for the city of Mobile for a Revolving Loan Fund; and $39,000,000 for runway extensions including $16,000,000 for Tuscaloosa National Airport and $13,000,000 for the Abbeville Municipal Airport.

One of the biggest porkers to ever grace the halls of Congress, Sen. Shelby retired having received the most earmarks by dollar amount for the second year in a row.  In FY 2023, Sen. Shelby received 18 earmarks costing taxpayers $666.4 million, including 6.9 percent of the total amount earmarked in the FY 2023 THUD bill.

$215,236,952 for 87 earmarks by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), including six earmarks costing $12,500,00 million funding libraries, $750,000 for the Santa Ana to Garden Grove Rails to Trails project, and $400,000 for the Spooky Knoll Trail.

$132,159,965 for 56 earmarks by Senate THUD Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine), including $7,800,000 for improvements of Elm Street in Biddeford, Maine five earmarks costing $5,425,000 for YMCAs in Maine, and $979,000 for the Lewiston Canal and Riverwalk Trail.

$51,183,880 for 29 projects funding museums, including:  $10,000,000 for the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit, Michigan by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.); $7,000,000 for the Korean American National Museum in Los Angeles, California by Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.); and $4,000,000 for the Bahamian Museum of Arts and Culture in Miami, Florida by Rep. Federica Wilson (D-Fla.).

In FY 2022, there were 10 earmarks costing $20.8 million, which means the number of earmarks increased by 34.5 percent and their cost increased by 40.6 percent in FY 2023.  Since FY 1991, legislators have added 1,476 earmarks costing $1.7 billion for museums across the 12 appropriations bills that fund the federal government.

$28,630,000 for 17 earmarks funding arts programming, including:  $4,000,000 for the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District Center for the Performing Arts in Industry, California by Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.); $3,930,000 for facility improvements at the Ordway Center for Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota by House appropriator Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.); and $3,000,000 for redevelopment of the Anacostia Arts Center in Washington, D.C. by Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).

$21,479,000 for 15 earmarks funding theaters, including:  $4,000,000 for the restoration and expansion of the Forest Theater in Dallas, Texas by former Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas); $3,000,000 for redevelopment of the American Theater in Pittston, Pennsylvania by House appropriator Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.); and $3,000,000 for redevelopment of the Sandusky State Theatre in Ohio by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio).

$11,112,400 for seven earmarks funding bike paths:  $3,500,000 for the Barrio Logan section of the Bayshore Bikeway in San Diego, California by Rep. Juan Vargas (D-Calif.); $2,500,000 for the South Whittier Communities bikeways access project in Los Angeles, California by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.); $2,000,000 for bike and pedestrian improvements at the Highway 1/Frenchman’s Creek intersection in Half Moon Bay, California by Sen. Padilla, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), and former Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.); $1,100,000 for a bike and pedestrian path along Route 53 in Will County, Illinois by Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.); $900,000 for a bike and pedestrian feasibility study in the city of Smyrna, Georgia, by Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.); $782,000 for the Clear Creek bike path connector in the city of Franklin, Ohio by former Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio); and $330,400 for the Madison Drive bike and pedestrian trail in the village of Streamwood, Illinois by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.).

Since FY 1991, members of Congress have taken taxpayers for a ride by adding 140 earmarks costing $114.9 million for bike paths, meaning 9.7 percent of the total cost was earmarked in FY 2023.

This booklet was written by Sean Kennedy, director of research and policy.  It was edited by Thomas A. Schatz, president.

Oinker Awards

The Whole Hog Award to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) for 18 earmarks costing $666,406,000, the highest amount received, and 23.1 percent more than the legislator in second place.

The Strange Bedfellows Award to Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) for $6,000,000 for the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University in Starkville.

The House of Pork Award to Rep. Randy Weber (R-Texas) who received 10 earmarks costing $287,537,000, the most in the House of Representatives.

The You Cannot be Serious Award to Rep. Ed Case (D-Hawaii) for $250,000 for the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, which had a fund balance of $60.7 million in 2020.

The Taking Taxpayers for a Ride Award to the nine members of Congress who received seven earmarks costing $11,112,400 funding bike and pedestrian paths.

The Broadband Bandits Award to the 10 members of Congress who received eight earmarks costing $9,537,427 to fund broadband projects despite the availability of enough money to connect every unserved area of the country.

The Deep Sixing the Taxpayers’ Money Award to Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) for $3,050,000 for two earmarks funding aquariums that have combined net assets of $107 million.

The Atlantic Fleeced Award to Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) for $4,000,000 for the Bahamian Museum of Arts and Culture in Nassau, Bahamas.

The Singing a Sour Note for Taxpayers Award to Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) for $250,000 for the restoration of the Driver Opera House.

The Closing the Curtain on Taxpayers Award to the 36 members of Congress who received 28 earmarks costing $30,317,006 for local theaters.

The Leaving the Barn Door Open Award to then-Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for $500,000 for the preservation of the historic Farm Barn at Shelburne Farms.

The Boot-Scootin’ Piggie Award to Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) for $500,000 for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum.