Congressional Earmarks Online Resources (Updated)
The issue of congressional earmarks continues to make the news after McCain’s attack on Obama’s “projector” earmark during the second presidential debate.
McCain has long been an opponent to earmarks spending. But his singling out (and what seems to be a mischaracterization) of the projector as an example to criticize Obama soon drew some defensive responses from the scientific community (Chicago Tribune story, and Science News story.)
But what are earmarks anyway?
More importantly how much were spent and how are they really being applied?
Here are some good online sources to find out for yourself.
Original pages for thie Sunlight Labs project are no longer available. Couldn’t find any replacement but plesae click here to similar or new pages from Sunlight Labs on earmakrs. 02/11/09
2005 earmarks
Visualizing 2005 Earmarks, Sunlight Labs
Visualize earmarks spending:
• Most by state per capita = Alaska
• Most by state total = California (change “bubble size” selector choice to see this)
• Most by agency total = Department of Defense
• Most by type of organization = For-profit organizations
2007 & 2008 defense earmarks
The Favor Factory Year 2008 and Year 2007, Seattle Times.
This resource shows who received and who gave in the 2008 defense bill.
It is part of an extensive investigative project by the Seattle Times with some really detailed stories, reports and analysis from the newspaper.
This resource enables user to search by state and by lawmaker - very user-friendly and accessible. The database only includes defense earmarks, by far the largest category of earmarks spending.
Of interest since it is election season:
• Obama’s 2008 and 2007 defense earmarks records.
• McCain’s 2008 and 2007 defense earmarks records.
Official database
Earmarks records, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget
This is the least user-friendly resource I found (certainly met my expectation for government web applications). However, it is supposed to be the most complete. If you are interested in siffing through tons of data, this one is for you. Data included in this site:
• Estimates of FY 2009 Appropriations Earmarks
• FY 2008 Appropriations Earmarks
• FY 2005 Appropriations Earmarks
• FY 2005 Authorization Earmarks
Higher Education earmarks
Congressional Earmarks for Higher Education, 2008, the Chronicle of Higher Education
Users can search by state, federal agency, keyword, institution and member of Congress to see all higher education earmarks.
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