Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion In Earmarks - Hotline On Call

Tea Party Caucus Takes $1 Billion In Earmarks

By Reid Wilson

December 2, 2010 | 4:30 AM

Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), for one, attached his name to 69 earmarks in the last fiscal year, for a total of $78,263,000. The 41 earmarks Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.) requested were worth $65,395,000. Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) wanted $63,400,000 for 39 special projects, and Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) wanted $93,980,000 set aside for 47 projects.

Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) takes the prize as the Tea Partier with his name on the most earmarks. Rehberg's office requested funding for 88 projects, either solely or by co-signing earmarks requests with Sens. Max Baucus (D) and Jon Tester (D), at a cost of $100,514,200. On his own, Rehberg requested 20 earmarks valued at more than $9.6 million.

More than one member can sign onto an earmark. Still, there are 29 caucus members who requested on their own or joined requests for more than $10 million in earmark funding, and seven who wanted more than $50 million in funding.

Most offices did not respond right away to a request for comment. Those that did said they supported Republicans' new efforts to ban earmarks.

Alexander, for one, "stands with his fellow Republicans in the House in supporting the current earmark ban. Since joining the Tea Party Caucus in July, he has not submitted any earmark requests and has withdrawn his outstanding requests that were included in the most recent Water Resources Development Act," said Jamie Hanks, his communications director.

Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Miss.), who requested 25 earmarks in the last Fiscal Year at a total cost of just over $80 million, has agreed to abide by the Republican earmark ban, according to spokesman Adam Buckalew. "He supported the moratorium and the prohibition adopted recently by the Conference on House earmarks for the 112th Congress," Buckalew said of Harper.

"It's easy to be a member of the TEA Party Caucus because, like them, I agree that we're Taxed Enough Already and we've got to balance the budget by cutting spending instead of raising taxes. Deficit spending is not new, but the unprecedented rate of spending in Congress is," Rehberg said in a statement emailed by his office. "Montanans have tightened their belts, and it's way past time for Congress to follow their lead. The TEA Party Caucus is about listening to concerned Americans who want to fundamentally change how Congress spends their tax dollars. On that, we're in total agreement."

Bachmann's office did not respond to emails or phone calls seeking comment.

Still, some Republicans -- albeit none who belong to the Tea Party caucus -- have said they will not abide by the voluntary earmark ban. And, said CAGW's Williams, the anti-spending organization isn't waiting with baited breath.

"Seeing is believing. It's going to take a lot more than rhetoric to convince us," he said.

A list of Tea Party Caucus members and their earmark requests in Fiscal Year 2010, courtesy of Citizens Against Government Waste's Pig Book:

NAME                EARMARKS        AMOUNT  Aderholt (R-AL)        69        $78,263,000 Akin (R-MO)             9        $14,709,000 Alexander (R-LA)       41        $65,395,000 Bachmann (R-MN)         0                  0 Barton (R-TX)          14        $12,269,400 Bartlett (R-MD)        19        $43,060,650 Bilirakis (R-FL)       14        $13,600,000 R. Bishop (R-UT)       47        $93,980,000 Burgess (R-TX)         15        $15,804,400 Broun (R-GA)            0                  0 Burton (R-IN)           0                  0 Carter (R-TX)          26        $42,232,000 Coble (R-NC)           19        $18,755,000 Coffman (R-CO)          0                  0 Crenshaw (R-FL)        37        $54,424,000 Culberson (R-TX)       22        $33,792,000 Fleming (R-LA)         10        $31,489,000 Franks (R-AZ)           8        $14,300,000 Gingrey (R-GA)         19        $16,100,000 Gohmert (R-TX)         15         $7,099,000 T. Graves (R-GA)       11         $8,331,000 R. Hall (R-TX)         16        $12,232,000 Harper (R-MS)          25        $80,402,000 Herger (R-CA)           5         $5,946,000 Hoekstra (R-MI)         9         $6,392,000 Jenkins (R-KS)         12        $24,628,000 S. King (R-IA)         13         $6,650,000 Lamborn (R-CO)          6        $16,020,000 Luetkemeyer (R-MO)      0                  0 Lummis (R-WY)           0                  0 Marchant (R-TX)         0                  0 McClintock (R-CA)       0                  0 Gary Miller (R-CA)     15        $19,627,500 Jerry Moran (R-KS)     22        $19,400,000 Myrick (R-NC)           0                  0 Neugebauer (R-TX)       0                  0 Pence (R-IN)            0                  0 Poe (R-TX)             12         $7,913,000 T. Price (R-GA)         0                  0 Rehberg (R-MT)         88       $100,514,200 Roe (R-TN)              0                  0 Royce (R-CA)            7         $6,545,000 Scalise (R-LA)         20        $17,388,000 P. Sessions (R-TX)      0                  0 Shadegg (R-AZ)          0                  0 Adrian Smith (R-NE)     1           $350,000 L. Smith (R-TX)        18        $14,078,000 Stearns (R-FL)         17        $15,472,000 Tiahrt (R-KS)          39        $63,400,000 Wamp (R-TN)            14        $34,544,000 Westmoreland (R-GA)     0                  0 Wilson (R-SC)          15        $23,334,000

TOTAL 764 $1,049,783,150

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More to come in 2011, I'm sure. Its how Congress works. They just blew smoke up people's asses during the election season.